The Misfortune of the Twelve Maidens

We all know that when we were kids, we had some stories that we used to sing and to use when playing the rubber band game or jump rope. But we never thought about the lyrics when singing them. Most of them are so dark and deep that I don’t even know how come didn’t notice what we were saying. Worst! We even find them funny because of the dark and disturbing parts! Oh, that’s called innocence. We did know the words; therefore, we did know what they meant. But did we ever take the time to reflect on those disturbing actions?

Just for contexts “trangalomango” in Portuguese, means misfortune, or illness attributed to a spell; witchcraft. Just this word is dark and deep. It’s in Portuguese, but press play and check the translated version below!

Twelve young maidens - Nursery rhymes

“There were twelve young maidens

All lined with bronze

Happened the trangalomango on them

There were left only eleven.

*

Of those eleven they were

Went to wash their feet

Happened the trangalomango on them

There were left only ten.

*

Of those ten they were

Went to dig a grave

Happened the trangalomango on them

There were left only nine.

*

Of those nine they were

Went to knead cookies

Happened the trangalomango on them

There were left only eight.

*

Of those eight they were

They all wore berets

Happened the trangalomango on them

There were left only seven.

Of the seven that they were

They went to sing for ten kings

He gave them the trangalomango

There were left only six.

*

Of the six that they were

Closed the door on the latch

He gave them the trangalomango

There were left only five.

*

Of the five that they were

They ate rice and duck

They were given the trangalomango

There were left only four.

*

Of those four who were

Came back again:

They were given the trangalomango

There were left only three.

*

Of the three that they were

They went down those streets:

They were all left with the trangalomango.

There were left only two.

*

Of the two that they were

They went to pick pine needles

They were given the trangalomango

There was left only one.

*

Of the one she was

Went to live in the city

Gave the trangalomango to her

She was left with only half.

*

Of that half she was

She went to play with a top

Gave her the trangalomango

No more generation.”

With this story, you can learn how to count down from 10 to none. And we all sing this happily, without knowing that we were talking about death and that none of us remains in this world forever and life must go on. Even when part of you is gone – from the body to soul – life must continue, and so may you. I love the way dark stories have inspired context to them!

Dó...Mi...Nó – Nursery rhymes to play with a friend

“DÓ MI NÓ

If you saw what I saw

DÓ MI NÓ

At the courthouse doors

DÓ MI NÓ

The judge's underwear

DÓ MI NÓ

Wrapped in a newspaper

DÓ MI NÓ

This street full of blood

DÓ MI NÓ

Was the mother of my love

DÓ MI NÓ

From the window she threw herself

DÓ MI NÓ”

It’s a crazy and sad story that we loved to play with our hands and sing. There were a lot of these rhymes. Some of them about love and future life. We all used different techniques and some words may vary. You can check some examples of the hand movements that were used in those rhymes in the following video. They were played by two, three, or even four children. It was a great way to coordinate our movements with the other hands.

I hope you liked this article. You can check more poetry or stories on my profile or in the table below.