As I prepared for work one early
morning, I began to hum a
primary rhyme that had been
very popular when I was smaller.
The rhyme was somewhat the
favourite of school pupils
because of the rhythmic flow of
the response lines and the
interesting peculiarity of the
story line.
Old Ronger is dead and gone to
his grave…
Uhm, ahh, gone to his grave
They planted a mango tree over
his head…
Uhm, ahh, over his head
The mangoes grew ripe and
ready to burst…
Uhm, ahh, ready to burst
There came a high wind to blow
them all of…
Uhm, ahh, blow them all off
There came an old woman to
pick them all up
Uhm,ah, pick them all up
Old Roger rose up and gave her a knock…


I stopped short. Gave her a
knock? How ridiculous! Pray,
what would have made the old
woman to suffer such a fate
from old Roger who was
supposed to be long dead and
gone? Old Roger and old woman must have had some issues to settle… Or maybe the mango tree had been the issue and the old woman just happened to be the scapegoat. What was the morale of the poem? To watch out for old Roger before picking up fruits? It just did not add up. My only deduction was that the buffoonery Old Roger must have been an Old Soldier before his departure.

guy abi you ma na our school you go?