Whenever anybody was all loaded down with stuff, my husband’s late angel-mom (I loved her SO MUCH!) would say the same thing. So now we all say the same thing. I don’t know if she knew what it meant. I certainly didn’t. So, in preparation for this post, I looked it up. And I still don’t know.
So if I see you, and you have your arms full of packages, or you’re toting heavy bags, or you have a backpack that’s practically bending you over backwards, expect me to quote my late mother-in-law:
You’re like the little ant going to Jerusalem!
Here’s an English translation of a Catalan children’s song about a little ant going to Jerusalem. The theme is familiar to anyone who was ever a child, but it has absolutely nothing to do with being weighed down by cargo. Maybe that’s implied by the length of the little ant’s journey.
This post is part of Linda G. Hill’s weekly blog hop, One-Liner Wednesday. If you have a one-liner or just like them, follow the link.
MA
Mitchell Allen
December 5, 2018 at 4:03pmMarian, this just made me laugh. I love non-sequiturs.
Cheers,
Mitch
Dan Antion
December 5, 2018 at 4:54pmI kind that.
Roy A Ackerman, PhD, EA
December 7, 2018 at 5:47pmAs I was reading this, I realized…
This is a sister poem (song, ballad) to Chad Gadya, (The Kid- as in a goat), the final song in Ashkenazi hagadot, the book we read (and sing) on Passover. Which probably explains why that ant is going to Jerusalem. (I checked the references and it is, indeed, the case.)
Is it possible your mother-in-law comes from Sephardi stock in Spain. (There are an awful lot of those folks, since Spain worked really hard to either kill, convert, or banish every Jew in their kingdom…)
Marian Allen
December 8, 2018 at 10:43amIf so, it would be waaaaaay back there. Her grandparents were Grayson County, Kentucky stock and Methodists. It isn’t impossible, though. Thanks for the background on the song!
joey
December 8, 2018 at 5:34pmSo very cute! I can see why you miss her!