This is an excerpt from an interview that Lester W. J. “Smoky” Seifert (1915–1996) made in the late 1940s with his mother, Anna (Jagow) Seifert (1876–1958). Anna recites a version of the German children’s story “Widewidewenne,” which is an example of a cumulative tale, similar to “The House That Jack Built” or Dr. Seuss’s “Green Eggs and Ham.” “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” is a cumulative song.
The version of “Widewidewenne” recited by Anna Seifert in Oderbrüchisch tells the story of a farmer acquiring five animals (a rooster, a goat, a cow, a horse, and a dog) and two people (a hired man and a wife). Each animal and person has a name that rhymes with the Low German words for them, following the pattern “[name] heet mien [animal/person]”. “Heet” is the Oderbrüchisch word for ‘is called’; “mien” means ‘my’. Some of the names have specific meanings, which are given below with their standard German equivalents.
At one point during Anna’s recitation a dog can be heard barking in the background. When she is finished, one can hear Lester and Anna chuckling.
Dialect: Oderbrüchisch, Wisconsin German Dialects
Location: Dodge, Wisconsin
Kunkeldaan heet mien Hahn (rooster) [“Kunkel” ‘distaff’, i.e., a stick or spindle onto which wool or flax is wound for spinning]
Trippetraas heet mien Gaas (goat) [the sound of goats walking, cf. English “trip, trap, trip, trap” in “The Three Billy Goats Gruff”]
Af un Tau heet mien Kauh (cow) [“ab und zu” ‘now and then’]
Ehrewert heet mien Peerd (horse) [“ehrenwert” ‘honorable’]
Kunterbunt heet mien Hund (dog) [“kunterbunt” ‘multicolored, motley’]
Ehrerecht heet mien Knecht (hired man) [“Ehrenrecht” lit. ‘right of honor’; in the 19th century it denoted a special social privilege, which in the context of the usage here is ironic, since a Knecht was of modest social status]
Tiidverdriif heet mien Wiif (wife) [“Zeitvertreib” ‘pastime, amusement’]