15 July 2011

Idzie Rak: Polish Children's Rhyme

When I was a little girl, my parents would chant this song to me while walking two fingers on my belly to tickle my underarms.

When my older daughter and I went to Poland to bury my Dziadek, my family would chant this song and tickle her as well.  After a couple of times, she would say "Again!  Do the Idzie Rak!  Proooooszeeeee!"  It was amazing how quickly her words switched from all English to part Polish within that week because of simple rhymes like "Idzie Rak".


The complete rhyme is:

Idzie rak
idzie rak
czasem naprzód
czasem wspak.
Idzie rak
nieborak
jak ugryzie,
będzie znak!


Which translates to:

Here comes a crayfish (or a crayfish is walking)
Here comes a crayfish
Sometimes forward
sometimes backward
Here comes a crayfish
poor fellow
when he pinches you,
there will be a mark!


There are different small variations of this.  Sometimes, instead of "nieborak", it is "nie borak" (not a beet), or "niebo rak" (heaven crayfish, which could be about the zodiac sign possibly).  Sometimes, instead of "ugryzie", it is "uszczypnie" (stings you).


My family simply says the last four lines:

Idzie rak
nieborak
jak ugryzie,
będzie znak

I hope you enjoy this video I found (one of many online) of this rhyme.





Enjoy!


Related Post:
My Older Daughter's First Trip To Poland:  Coming To Poland


Let's BEE Friends

3 comments:

Aleksandra Rybinska said...

I love this rhyme! In my family is very popular :). Video is so cute!

Unknown said...

I had forgotten all about this rhyme. Thanks for the smiles.

Alena said...

That's cute. :) I think the Russian equivalent of Idzie Rak is "Идёт Коза Рогатая" (Here comes a horny goat). I bet there is something like that in English too!