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Mots D'Heures: Gousses, Rames: The D'Antin Manuscript
Mots D'Heures Gousses, Rames 1967.jpg
Author Luis d'Antin van Rooten
Publisher Grossman Publishers
Publication date
1967
Published in English
1967
Media type book
Pages 76
OCLC 1208360
LC Class 67-21230

Mots D'Heures: Gousses, Rames: The D'Antin Manuscript is a very clever and funny book published in 1967 by Luis d'Antin van Rooten. It looks like a collection of old French poems, but it's actually a secret! The book takes famous English nursery rhymes and rewrites them in French.

The trick is that the French words sound almost exactly like the English words when you say them out loud. This is called a homophonic translation. It's like hearing an English nursery rhyme spoken with a very strong French accent. Even the book's title, when you say it, sounds like "Mother Goose's Rhymes" with a French accent.

How the Rhymes Work

This book is full of puzzles and jokes. Each French poem sounds like a well-known English nursery rhyme. The author, Luis d'Antin van Rooten, even added fake scholarly notes to make it seem like a serious old French text. This makes the joke even funnier!

An Example: Humpty Dumpty

Let's look at how Humpty Dumpty was changed. You can see the original English, the new French version, and what the French words actually mean.

Humpty Dumpty
Sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty
Had a great fall.
And all the king's horses
And all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty
Together again.
Un petit d'un petit
S'étonne aux Halles
Un petit d'un petit
Ah! degrés te fallent
Indolent qui ne sort cesse
Indolent qui ne se mène
Qu'importe un petit
Tout gai de Reguennes.
A child of a child
Is surprised at the Market
A child of a child
Oh, degrees you needed!
Lazy is he who never goes out
Lazy is he who is not led
Who cares about a little one
All happy with Reguennes

List of Hidden Rhymes

Here are some of the famous English nursery rhymes that are hidden in Mots d’Heures: Gousses, Rames:

  1. Humpty Dumpty
  2. Old King Cole
  3. Hey Diddle Diddle
  4. Old Mother Hubbard
  5. There Was a Little Man and He Had a Little Gun
  6. Hickory Dickory Dock
  7. Jack Sprat
  8. Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater
  9. There Was a Crooked Man
  10. Little Miss Moffat
  11. Jack and Jill
  12. There Was a Little Girl She Had a Little Curl
  13. Little Jack Horner
  14. Ride a Cockhorse to Banbury Cross
  15. Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor
  16. Rain Rain Go Away
  17. Pat-a-cake Pat-a-cake Baker's Man
  18. Mistress Mary Quite Contrary
  19. Roses Are Red Violets Are Blue
  20. Tom Tom the Piper’s Son
  21. Mary Had a Little Lamb
  22. Cross Patch Draw the Latch
  23. See Saw Margery Daw
  24. The Queen of Hearts She Made Some Tarts
  25. One Two Buckle My Shoe
  26. There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe
  27. Ladybird Ladybird Fly Away Home
  28. Monday’s Child
  29. Lucy Locket
  30. Curly Locks
  31. Here Is the Church Here Is the Steeple
  32. Simple Simon
  33. I Do Not Like Thee Doctor Fell
  34. Pussycat Pussycat
  35. Little Bo Peep
  36. Baa Baa Black Sheep
  37. Polly Put the Kettle On
  38. Lock the Dairy Door
  39. This Little Pig Went to Market
  40. Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

Other Books Like This

Mots D'Heures is not the only book that plays with sounds between languages.

French to English

An earlier book called Anguish Languish (published in 1956) did something similar. For example, it turned the French song "Frère Jacques" into "Frayer Jerker" in English.

More English to French

Another book like Mots D'Heures is N'Heures Souris Rames (which sounds like "Nursery Rhymes"). This book came out in 1980 and was written by Ormonde de Kay. It has about 40 nursery rhymes. Some examples are:

  • Coucou doux de Ledoux (sounds like "Cock-A-Doodle-Doo")
  • Signe, garçon. Neuf Sikhs se pansent (sounds like "Sing a Song of Sixpence")
  • Hâte, carrosse bonzes (sounds like "Hot Cross Buns")

German to English

There's also a similar book in German and English called Mörder Guss Reims: The Gustav Leberwurst Manuscript. It was published in 1981 by John Hulme. This book looks very much like Mots D'Heures in its design, but it uses different nursery rhymes.

fr:N'Heures Souris Rames

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