This morning I woke up with the line of a song on replay in my head:
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly
So while I was doing my pre-turn-the-computer-on routine that involves cajoling the embers in the wood stove back into fire, letting the dogs out to pee, and making my coffee, I was thinking about that Old Lady. What did she swallow to catch the spider? a mouse? a snake? a shoe? Then David came downstairs.
L: David, what did the Old Lady swallow to catch the spider?
D: good morning to you. ummm, I think a mouse because she swallowed the cat to catch the mouse. But I don't know the rhyme.
L: It's maddening not to remember. When that annoying song is first burned into your brain you think, god this thing is going to take up precious brain space for the rest of my life. I"m never going to forget it. And then one morning you wake up and you can't even remember the third verse. I mean, the Old Lade and the Fly is nothing like the 12 days of Christmas. That one is impossible to remember even though you hear it or sing it at least once a year. 11 Lords a Leaping but how many Maids a Milking?! And 10 , 10, 10 what? And 12, we should be able to remember that one because that means that the long-ass song is almost over. 12 what? See, that's nothing like the Old Lady. 12 Days of Christmas is just random. there's no reason that he gave her 2 turtle doves instead of 10. But the Old Lady, that has some logic. There's the whole food chain progression to it - or at least animal size progression.
D: I'm pretty sure we can look it up.
Phew, thank god for the internet. If we didn't have the internet what would I have done? What did any of us do before the internet? I guess I would have started asking everyone I saw what caught the spider until I found someone who remembered. Not very likely found in Italy. Or maybe I would go to the library or a book store and look in the children's section. Again, tough to imagine finding here. I could have called a family member or friend in America, but with out skype that would be some expensive research for a pointless factoid.
So, let's all thank Al Gore for having invented the internet. And you all can thank me for putting that song into your head first thing this morning. Have a nice day.
It was a bird, by the way. No mouse. She never swallowed a mouse.
Without the internet I would never know that such a song exists. Nice nonsense.
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