One of my son’s favorite French children’s songs is “Une Souris verte.” It’s a very strange\u2014albeit catchy\u2014tune that dates back to the late seventeenth or eighteenth century.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/02\/wood-mouse-3162158_640-350x192.jpg\")
Courtesy of Pixabay.<\/p><\/div>\n
The song’s lyrics, or\u00a0paroles<\/em>, are below:<\/p>\nUne souris verte qui courait dans l\u2019herbe<\/em>
\nJe l\u2019attrape par la queue<\/em>
\nJe la montre \u00e0 ces messieurs<\/em>
\nCes messieurs me disent :<\/em>
\ntrempez la dans l\u2019huile,<\/em>
\ntrempez la dans l\u2019eau<\/em>
\n\u00c7a fera un escargot tout chaud<\/em><\/p>\nUne souris verte qui courait dans l\u2019herbe<\/em>
\nJe la mets dans mon chapeau<\/em>
\nElle me dit qu’il fait trop chaud<\/em>
\nCes messieurs me disent :<\/em>
\ntrempez la dans l\u2019huile,<\/em>
\ntrempez la dans l\u2019eau<\/em>
\n\u00c7a fera un escargot tout chaud<\/em><\/p>\nUne souris verte qui courait dans l’herbe<\/em>
\nJe la mets dans mon tiroir<\/em>
\nElle me dit qu\u2019il fait trop noir<\/em><\/p>\nCes messieurs me disent :<\/em>
\ntrempez la dans l\u2019huile,<\/em>
\ntrempez la dans l\u2019eau<\/em>
\n\u00c7a fera un escargot tout chaud<\/em><\/p>\nUne souris verte qui courait dans l’herbe<\/em><\/p>\nJe la mets dans ma culotte<\/em>
\nElle me fait trois petites crottes<\/em><\/p>\nCes messieurs me disent :<\/em>
\ntrempez la dans l\u2019huile,<\/em>
\ntrempez la dans l\u2019eau<\/em>
\n\u00c7a fera un escargot tout chaud<\/em><\/p>\nWhile the song’s author is anonymous, some historians believe that this cute nursery rhyme is actually about … torture. During the War in the Vend\u00e9e, which was an uprising that occurred during the French Revolution in 1793, Vend\u00e9en soldiers (or soldiers from the Vend\u00e9e region of France who opposed French revolutionary rule) were known colloquially as\u00a0les souris.\u00a0<\/em>These Vend\u00e9en soldiers were hunted down by French revolutionary forces (les soldats republicains<\/em>). If they were captured, they would be tortured for information about troop activity by forcing them into boiling water and hot oil. This doesn’t sound like a good basis for a children’s song, does it? Surprisingly, many children’s songs and nursery rhymes\u2014not just in France, but around the world\u2014have their origins in such gruesome historical events.<\/p>\nYou can read the English translation of the song and then listen to it below.<\/p>\n
A Green Mouse<\/p>\n
\n
A green mouse<\/div>\n
Running through the grass<\/div>\n
I catch it by the tail<\/div>\n
I show it to those men<\/div>\n
Those men tell me<\/div>\n
“Dip it in oil<\/div>\n
Dip it in water<\/div>\n
It will turn into a snail…<\/div>\n
A hot one!”<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
A green mouse<\/div>\n
Running through the grass<\/div>\n
I put it in a drawer<\/div>\n
It tells me, “it’s too dark!”<\/div>\n
\n
Those men tell me<\/div>\n
“Dip it in oil<\/div>\n
Dip it in water<\/div>\n
It will turn into a snail…<\/div>\n
A hot one!”<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
A green mouse<\/div>\n
Running through the grass<\/div>\n
\n
I put it in my hat<\/div>\n
It tells me, “it’s too hot!”<\/div>\n
\n
Those men tell me<\/div>\n
“Dip it in oil<\/div>\n
Dip it in water<\/div>\n
It will turn into a snail…<\/div>\n
A hot one!”<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
A green mouse<\/div>\n
Running through the grass<\/div>\n
\n
I put it in my pants<\/div>\n
And it leaves three little droppings!<\/div>\n
\n
Those men tell me<\/div>\n
“Dip it in oil<\/div>\n
Dip it in water<\/div>\n
It will turn into a snail…<\/div>\n
A hot one!”<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of my son’s favorite French children’s songs is “Une Souris verte.” It’s a very strange\u2014albeit catchy\u2014tune that dates back to the late seventeenth or eighteenth century. The song’s lyrics, or\u00a0paroles, are below: Une souris verte qui courait dans l\u2019herbe Je l\u2019attrape par la queue Je la montre \u00e0 ces messieurs Ces messieurs me disent…<\/p>\n
Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":29786,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,108,13],"tags":[408503,507512,250036,367,408456],"class_list":["post-29785","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-music","category-vocabulary","tag-free-french-lesson","tag-french-childrens-songs","tag-french-history","tag-french-music","tag-french-nursery-rhymes"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}