Bat! Bat! Come Un'er My Hat
"Negro Folk Rhymes, Wise and Otherwise" had the following note along with this rhyme: "A superstition that it is good luck to catch a bat in one's hat if he doesn't get bedbugs by so doing."
Bat! Bat! Come Un'er My Hat
Bat! Bat! Come Under My Hat
Nursery Rhyme
Nursery Rhyme
(Historical Black American English)
(English)
Bat! Bat! Come un'er my hat,
An' I'll give you a slish o' bacon.
But don't bring none yō' ole bedbugs,
If you don't want to git fersaken.
Bat! Bat! Come under my hat,
And I'll give you a slice of bacon.
But don't bring any of your old bedbugs,
If you don't want to be forsaken*.
Notes
*Abandoned
There's an English nursery rhyme called Bat, Bat, Come Under My Hat that this is most likely based on. The traditional English version of this rhyme is:
Bat, bat,
Come under my hat,
And I'll give you a slice of bacon;
And when I bake
I'll give you a cake,
If I am not mistaken.
*****
Thanks and Acknowledgements
This rhyme can be found in Negro Folk Rhymes, Wise and Otherwise, with a Study by Thomas W. Talley of Fisk University (1922).
Standard English version by Lisa Yannucci.
