Fanmors vaggsång

[kjn]

Fortsätter att dokumentera mina filkar här. Denna improviserades ihop strax efter Confetti i Göteborg (Huldas första kongress "på riktigt"), och sedan kom JHH med förbättringsförslag.

Ska naturligtvis sjungas som "Trollmors vaggsång".

När fanmor har lagt dom elva små fansen
Och häftat fast dom i sängen
Då sjunger hon sakta för elva små fansen
Dom vackraste ord hon känner
Gosh wow wow boy oh boy
Gosh wow wow boy oh boy
Gosh wow wow boy oh boy boy
Gosh wow wow boy oh boy

ETA: My English translation.

Comments

[canyonwalker.livejournal.com]

I am amused by Google Translate's attempt on the first four lines of the song:

When fanmor have put them eleven small fans
And stapled them into position in bed
When she sings softly to eleven small fans
Most beautiful words she knows

I'd guess that "small fans" refers to children. It makes me think of a bizarro take on the classic English nursery rhyme "There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe":

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe
She had so many children she didn't know what to do
She gave them some broth without any bread
Then whipped them all soundly and stapled them into bed.

Even more bizarro is that my version above is scarcely changed from the classic wording! See Wikipedia page.

[kjn]

A very rough English translation would be:

When mother fan has put eleven little fans into bed
And stapled them to the bed
Then she slowly sings to eleven little fans
The most beautiful words she knows

So Google translate wasn't that bad in this case, considering it's a song. And yes, it's a lullaby (except when it isn't sung that way).

[canyonwalker.livejournal.com]

Is "stapled" really the best translation? In English it would be crude and violent to staple a person to anything. I'm guessing that in Swedish it is an idiom, and a more appropriate English translation would be "tucked them in to bed".

[kjn]

No, it's supposed to be stapled. The original version had the troll-mother tying their tails together.

[canyonwalker.livejournal.com]

That certainly makes more sense in context. The translation was accurate; that was one of two things I was wondering about. The other is my amazement that the English nursery rhyme I mentioned-- and that's why I checked it on Wikipedia, to make sure I was remembering it properly-- so casually endorses reckless procreation and child abuse. Of human children, not troll-kids!

[kjn]

If one starts to check old nursery rhymes, old (oral) children's stories and s on, you'll find no ends of petty brutality. Some of it is still quite recent.

I think it might help in developing their moral compass. Or it's just an obsession with gross stuff.