There's a nursery rhyme that Gabriella has been singing to Noemi. Apparently it's very old, and I couldn't find it on the interweb, but we like it.I decided to set myself a challenge and translate it into an English version that you can sing to the same tune. I don't think I did a bad job!
«Oh, perbacco» diceva Tommaso,
«Se mi viene la mosca sul naso
Io di certo qui dir non saprei
In tal caso che cosa farei.
Che ne dite amici miei?
È una cosa che fa pensar,
che fa pensar.»
Ad un tratto la mosca pian piano
Sul nasin di Tommaso posò.
«Povero naso!»
esclamava confuso Tommaso:
Ohilì, Ohilà!
A farsi furbo così imparerà.
"Oh, my goodness" said Ambrose,
"What if that fly came and sat on my nose?
In that instance I couldn't tell you
What on earth I would venture to do.
What's the solution according to you?
It's a thinker and no mistake,
and no mistake."
The fly suddenly chose to repose,
Gracefully perched on the nose of Ambrose.
"Oh my poor nose!"
cried a baffled Ambrose:
Hey here! Hey there!
That'll teach him to think with more flair.
4 comments:
That is fantastic... I think I'll start singing that to my girls!
Well done!
Umm - maybe I'm just a bit slow, but how do you get Ambrose out of Tommaso? I thought the Italian for Ambrose was Ambrogio. Still, I'm delighted to have found this blog.
You may have been overthinking it: the answer is that Ambrose rhymes with nose, but nothing rhymes with Thomas, so far as I'm aware!
You might say that it doesn't formally respect the original, or you might say that the chap is probably only called Tommaso because it rhymes with naso in the first place.
You're right, Mark: I was overthinking it. I'll just get my coat and go quietly....
Post a Comment