A Wise Old Owl

"A Wise Old Owl" is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 7734 and in The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, 2nd Ed. of 1997, as number 394. The rhyme is an improvement of a traditional nursery rhyme "There was an owl lived in an oak, wisky, wasky, weedle."

Lyrics

A wise old owl lived in an oak
The more he saw the less he spoke
The less he spoke the more he heard.
Why can't we all be like that wise old bird?

This version was first published in Punch, April 10, 1875, and ran as follows:

There was an owl liv'd in an oak
The more he heard, the less he spoke
The less he spoke, the more he heard.
O, if men were all like that wise bird

A wise old owl lived in an oak,

The more he saw, the less he spoke

The less he spoke, the more he heard,

Old Owl

Old Owl (Comanche, Mupitsukupʉ) (c. late 1780s – 1849) was a Native American Civil Chief of the Penateka band of the Comanche Indians.

Early life

Nothing is known of his youth or early years. Older than the two war chiefs, Old Owl was a member of the same band of the Comanche as the more famous Buffalo Hump (Potsʉnakwahipʉ) and Santa Anna. Although known as a civil, or peace, Chief, he was known to lead war parties. He was an important chief, though probably less influential than Buffalo Hump during the 1830s and 1840s. He was originally, along with Buffalo Hump and Santa Anna, a leader of Comanche resistance to Anglo settlement in Texas, especially during the period following the Council House Fight.

Council House Fight

Like most Comanche Chiefs, Old Owl came to white attention following the Council House Fight. He, along with Santa Anna, was part of the Great Raid of 1840 which Buffalo Hump organized to take revenge for what the Comanche viewed as the "utter betrayal of their people at the Council House." But Old Owl was the first among the Comanche Chiefs to recognize that defeating the whites was unlikely. He began advocating peace around 1842, and is best known for his meeting with Robert Neighbors and his subsequent signing of the Meusebach-Comanche Treaty."

Wise

Wise may refer to:

People

Places

Businesses

Other uses

See also

Nursery rhyme

A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for young children in Britain and many other countries, but usage only dates from the late 18th /early 19th century. In North America the term Mother Goose Rhymes, introduced in the mid-18th century, is still often used.

History

Lullabies

The oldest children's songs of which we have records are lullabies, intended to help a child sleep. Lullabies can be found in every human culture. The English term lullaby is thought to come from "lu, lu" or "la la" sound made by mothers or nurses to calm children, and "by by" or "bye bye", either another lulling sound, or a term for good night. Until the modern era lullabies were usually only recorded incidentally in written sources. The Roman nurses' lullaby, "Lalla, Lalla, Lalla, aut dormi, aut lacta", is recorded in a scholium on Persius and may be the oldest to survive.

Many medieval English verses associated with the birth of Jesus take the form of a lullaby, including "Lullay, my liking, my dere son, my sweting" and may be versions of contemporary lullabies. However, most of those used today date from the 17th century. For example, a well known lullaby such as "Rock-a-bye, baby on a tree top", cannot be found in records until the late-18th century when it was printed by John Newbery (c. 1765).

Song

A song is a single (and often standalone) work of music intended to be sung by the human voice with distinct and fixed pitches and patterns using sound and silence and a variety of forms that often include the repetition of sections. Written words created specifically for music or for which music is specifically created, are called lyrics. If a pre-existing poem is set to composed music in classical music it is an art song. Songs that are sung on repeated pitches without distinct contours and patterns that rise and fall are called chants. Songs in a simple style that are learned informally are often referred to as folk songs. Songs that are composed for professional singers are called popular songs. These songs, which have broad appeal, are often composed by professional songwriters, composers and lyricists. Art songs are composed by trained classical composers for concert performances. Songs are performed live and recorded. Songs may also appear in plays, musical theatre, stage shows of any form, and within operas.