Valentina wrote: " I would like to contribute this song my granny used to sing while letting us gallop on her legs. You sing it to a child who is seated on your lap, facing you, with legs apart, while holding his or her hands you gently move your thighs and knees up and down to mimic the galloping of a horse.

The lines are related in meaning to each other as each line asks a question about a word that has been mentioned in the preceding line. The "-" stands for a pause in singing.

The lyrics contain quite a variety of words, names of things, animals and onomatopoeia, very good for small children to learn; I still sing it to my 3 little girls and all their friends... Nursery rhymes are such a treasure that should not be forgotten!"

"Trucci trucci cavallucci" = Onomatopeic sounds. "Cavallucci" means little horses. "Clippity-clop, clippity-clop colts" is one translation into English that would keep the sense and the sounds of the words. -Mama Lisa.

Notes

*Normally a "stanga" is a door bar, the one you put across the door to keep it closed.

At the end you let the child bend his back away from you, by holding his/her hands, as if to let him fall, which usually causes great bursts of laughter!

*****
Here are the lyrics without the dashes:

Trucci trucci cavallucci
chi è che va a cavallo?
Il re del portogallo
con la cavalla zoppa.
Chi l'ha zoppicata?
La stanga della porta.
Dov'è la porta?
L'ha bruciata il fuoco!
Dov'è il fuoco?
L'ha spento l'acqua!
Dov'è l'acqua?
L'ha bevuta il bue
Dov'e il bue?
Il bue sta in campagna
e mangia noci
e castagna!

Thanks and Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Valentina for contributing and translating this nursery rhyme.