# German children's rhyme **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 4, 2003, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-childrens-rhyme/166363 "2003-04-04T02:18:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ender\_Will](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Ender\_Will](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ender_Will)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-childrens-rhyme/166363/1 "2003-04-04T02:18:26Z")
When I took German in high school, we had to memorize a poem/rhyme that German children traditionally said on Christmas Eve (or some time shortly before Christmas). I have since forgotten almost all of, but last week I remembered two lines, and it’s been stuck in my head since. The two lines I remember are: (pardon any errors, please. Doing this phonetically from memory, so conjugation and spelling are out the window) _Lieber guter Weinachtsmann, schau mich nicht so bose an_ some stuff in the middle I don’t remember _stecke deine Reute an_ Another line or two before the end Anyone know this poem? ---
**Author:** ![Catalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@Catalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catalyst)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-childrens-rhyme/166363/2 "2003-04-04T04:56:54Z")
_Lieber guter Weinachtsmann, schau mich nicht so böse an, sonst hol ich meine Pumpgun raus dann siehst du ziemlich blutig aus._ Is this it? I found this after a quick Googling, but _mein Deutsch ist nicht so gut_. ---
**Author:** ![blinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@blinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinx)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-childrens-rhyme/166363/3 "2003-04-04T09:10:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Catalyst \* > \*\*_Lieber guter Weinachtsmann, > schau mich nicht so böse an, > sonst hol ich meine Pumpgun raus > dann siehst du ziemlich blutig aus._ > > Is this it? I found this after a quick Googling, but _mein Deutsch ist nicht so gut_. \*\* Well, I don’t know how the situation is where the OP lives, but here in Denmark German class didn’t include poems about shooting santa to a bloody mess with a pumpgun. ---
**Author:** ![Einmon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Einmon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Einmon)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-childrens-rhyme/166363/4 "2003-04-04T10:29:23Z")
_Lieber guter Weihnachtsmann, schau mich nicht so böse an, stecke deine Rute ein, ich will auch immer artig sein._ I guess this is it… **Catalyst** …better make a mental note: Christmas poems containing the word “pumpgun” won’t please your German Granny 😃 ---
**Author:** ![raygirvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@raygirvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raygirvan)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-childrens-rhyme/166363/5 "2003-04-04T11:31:36Z")
In German tradition, Santa brings presents if you’ve been good, but conversely has a sidekick called Ruprecht who beats you with a rod if you’ve been bad. Or in some versions, Ruprecht comes alone as the scary Christmas Man, again with the options of punishment or reward. It looks to me as if **Einmon’s** is the trad whiny rhyme promising to be good, and **Catalyst’s** an update saying you’ll shoot the b\*\*\*\*\*\* if he’s tries anything! ---
**Author:** ![Catalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@Catalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catalyst)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-childrens-rhyme/166363/6 "2003-04-04T12:24:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by blinx \* > \*\*Well, I don’t know how the situation is where the OP lives, but here in Denmark German class didn’t include poems about shooting santa to a bloody mess with a pumpgun. \*\* :eek: Serves me right for copying-and-pasting willy-nilly, I suppose. I googled the first two lines and that’s what the top few pages said, so I didn’t bother to try and translate it (or even read the rest of it, for that matter). Not to overuse the smilies, but :smack:. Sorry, guys. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-childrens-rhyme/166363/7 "2003-04-04T14:50:51Z")
In a similar vein, my mother’s grandmother was German but my mother never learned German. But she did learn a German children’s rhyme, of which she doesn’t know the meaning. It starts out (I don’t know German so I’ve no clue about the spelling) _Die riede ku, die riede ku_ Anybody ever seen anything like this? I could call Mom and ask her to recite the whole thing, if she still remembers it. This is all I remember from what she told me. ---
**Author:** ![blinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@blinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinx)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-childrens-rhyme/166363/8 "2003-04-04T14:56:45Z")
While I do not know the rhyme, I’ll wager a guess that it is supposed to be “die rote Kuh” as in “The red cow” ---
**Author:** ![Ender\_Will](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Ender\_Will](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ender_Will)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-childrens-rhyme/166363/9 "2003-04-05T00:12:58Z")
**Einmon** , that definitely sounds similar. I thought it was longer, but who knows? Now that you mention it, the “immer artig sein” was in it, but the last line doesn’t seem quite right…probably just my memory or just a different version, though. I should have mentioned that I Googled it, and got the “shoot the SOB w/my pumpgun” update. ---
**Author:** ![Einmon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Einmon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Einmon)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-childrens-rhyme/166363/10 "2003-04-05T01:05:16Z")
Hmm…every site I Googled came up with the rhyme I stated in my previous post (well, apart from the one with the pumpgun or with sexual innuendo concerning Santa’s “Rute”). Maybe there’s an obscure second verse to it. **Cooking** : Never heard of that rhyme, though “ku” sounds like “Kuh” (cow). If you’d really like to know, better ask your Mom for more info…