Siembamba
Disturbing children's rhymes.
This is a children’s rhyme in Afrikaans, and I’ve always wondered about the questionable and disturbing lyrics. I translated it into English.
Siembamba, mama se kindjie,
Siembamba, mama se kindjie
--draai sy nek om, gooi hom in die sloot;
trap op sy kop dan is hy dood.
C. J. Langenhoven
Loosely translated, it reads:
Siembamba, mama’s child,
Siembamba, mama’s child.
Twist his neck, throw him in a ditch
Stomp on his head, then he’s dead.
I’ve done some research, but I can only find speculations about the origin of the rhyme. This makes me wonder what the hell the writer was thinking when he added this stanza. The rest of the rhyme is about a man’s journey through life from birth.
Share your disturbing children’s rhymes with me in the comments.
This is very disturbing Rea.... I can't think about a children's rhyme like this ( mind me, just waking up...) but it gets you wondering what this man was thinking 🤔
Alot of children's nursery rhymes are jacked up. Like "london bridge is falling down, falling down, london bridges falling down my fair lady. Take the key and lock her up, take the key and lock her up. My fair lady..." that taking the key and lock her up, suspect and not kool.