Donald Cooper, Carle, Quo' She Lyrics
Pretend the child is a small wooden pail with a loose hoop and the grown-up is the cooper called in to fix it. Three hoops, one hug, and the pail is as good as new.
Donald Cooper, Carle, Quo' She
Donald Cooper, Carle, quo' she,
Can ye gird my coggie?
Couthie Carline, that I can,
As weel as ony bodie.
There's ane about the mou' o't,
And ane about the body o't,
And ane about the leggen o't,
And that's a girded coggie!
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/donald-cooper-carle-quo-she/
- Type
- Mother Goose, Action Songs
- Tune
- Spoken or sung in Scots, with a hug at the end
- Best for ages
- 1 to 5 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| Can ye gird my coggie? | Hold the child upright in front of you, give a little wobble, and inspect the loose pail. |
| There's ane about the mou' o't, | Trace a ring round the top of the child's head, like a hat band. |
| And ane about the body o't, | Circle both hands round the child's middle. |
| And ane about the leggen o't, | Circle the child's ankles. |
| And that's a girded coggie! | Squeeze in a hug and give the pail a shake to test it. |
What Does Donald Cooper, Carle, Quo' She Mean?
The rhyme is in Scots, and the trade words need a gloss. A cooper makes and mends wooden barrels, tubs and pails. A coggie is a small wooden pail or bowl built from upright staves, and to gird it is to bind it with hoops so it holds together. Carle means a fellow, quo' she is said she, and couthie means kindly. A carline is an old woman, ony bodie is anybody, mou' is mouth and ane is one. The leggen is probably the lowest part of the pail, which gives three hoops: top, middle and bottom. Put together, a woman says, "Donald Cooper, can you hoop my pail?" and he answers, "Kind old woman, I can, as well as anyone."
History and Origin
Robert Ford printed the rhyme in Children's Rhymes, Children's Games, Children's Songs, Children's Stories (1904), among the Scots rhymes that mothers and nurses sing to small children. He says it is used when the child is pretended to be a piece of cooper's work that needs mending, with the mending acted out as the lines go by. He gives no date and no place for it. Wooden pails and tubs held together by hoops were everyday household objects, so the picture would have been familiar to the children who heard it.
Learning Activities
- Play the cooper: sit the child on your lap or stand them in front of you, then fit each hoop with your hands as the lines say. Finish with the hug.
- Look for hoops: find a wooden bucket or a barrel planter and look at the metal bands that hold the staves tight.
- Three hoops: stand a paper cup on the table and slide three bracelets or rubber bands over it, one for each line that starts "ane about".
- Change the trade: mend something else in the same way, or compare it with Cobbler, Cobbler, Mend My Shoe.