Oh, My Darling Mother Frog


There are many variations on the song “Oh, My Darling Clementine”.  At least in Dutch, there are.

The version I learned in camp in Holland is (as I found out later) a mixture of two entirely different versions. The result is rather absurd, especially if you know the landscape in Holland.

In my memory it goes like this:

In een rotskloof van ‘t gebergte
Tussen Delft en Overschie,
Zat een kikvors luid te wenen,
Met een zuig’ling op haar knie.

Which can be translated as:

In a canyon in the mountains
Between Delft and Overschie
A frog was crying loudly
Nursing a baby on her knee

The rest of the story is really sad. Mother Frog tells her infant that his father was eaten by a stork. Baby Frog swears that he will avenge his father, but ends up being eaten himself. Which leaves the mother crying alone.

 

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