Il était une dame Tartine Lyrics
A lady called Dame Tartine lives in a palace of fresh butter with flour walls, sleeps in a bed of biscuits and drives into town in a cart of hard biscuit pulled by hot pies. Three short verses of pure make-believe, and every food word is explained.
Il était une dame Tartine
Il était un' dame Tartine,
Dans un beau palais de beurr' frais;
Les muraill's étaient de farine,
Le parquet était de croquets,
Sa chambre à coucher
Était d'échaudés,
Son lit de biscuits:
C'est fort bon la nuit.
Quand ell' s'en allait à la ville,
Elle avait un petit bonnet;
Les rubans étaient de pastille
Et le fond de bon raisiné;
Sa petit' carriole
Etait d' croquignole;
Ses petits chevaux
Étaient d' patés chauds.
In English
There was a lady Slice-of-Bread,
In a lovely palace of fresh butter;
The walls were made of flour,
The floor was made of dry biscuits,
Her bedroom
Was made of échaudés,
Her bed of rusks:
That is very good at night.
When she went into town,
She wore a little bonnet;
The ribbons were made of sweets
And the crown of good grape jam;
Her little cart
Was made of hard biscuit;
Her little horses
Were made of hot pies.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/il-etait-une-dame-tartine/
- Type
- Mother Goose
- Tune
- A skipping tune that fits one food after another, like counting off a menu
- Best for ages
- 3 to 8 years
What Does Il était une dame Tartine Mean?
The title means There was a lady Tartine, and the words are French. A tartine is a slice of bread with butter or jam on it, so her name is Dame Slice-of-Bread. A rough sound is eel ay-TAY oon dahm tar-TEEN.
Everything in her world is made of something to eat. Her palace is of beurre frais (fresh butter), the walls are of farine (flour) and the floor is of croquets, thin dry cakes. Her bedroom is made of échaudés, very light pastries made from scalded dough, and her bed is of biscuits, with the cheerful remark that this is "very good at night". Out in town she wears a bonnet with ribbons of pastille (a sweet) and a crown of raisiné, a jam cooked from sweet grapes. Her little cart is of croquignole, a small, very hard biscuit, and her horses are made of pâtés chauds, hot pies.
The pleasure of it is the list. Each line swaps one ordinary thing, a wall or a ribbon, for a food, and a child can guess what comes next. It is a song of a cake-shop dream with no plot and nothing to learn, apart from a handful of French words for things to eat.
History and Origin
It is one of the songs in Chansons de France pour les petits Français, a Paris songbook with tunes arranged by Jean-Baptiste Weckerlin. The book prints it with its tune for small singers.
The words use a few food names that are rare in French today, such as échaudé and croquignole, which are best learned from the song itself.
Learning Activities
- Build with food words: draw the palace and label each part with the French word, such as farine for the walls.
- Your own house: each child says what a house of theirs would be made of if it were food, and the group sings the line.
- Cart and horses: make a paper cart and decide what it is made of and what pulls it.
- Taste table: put out a plain biscuit, a spoon of jam and a little butter, and name each one in French.