Stick a needle in your eye!
How dark. How gory. Ever wondered where all these strange childhood rhymes come from, or what in the world they mean?
I think it's amazing how the superstitious lore of childhood - crossing your fingers behind your back nullifies a promise, stepping on a crack will "break your mother's back" - are passed along from generation to generation, spreading through playgrounds like weeds.
In ages past, our ancestors lived in a verbal culture, and stories were told, remembered, and passed down with an accuracy we find hard to believe. Are these childhood fables the last remnants of this?
There is something solemn and serious about the passing on of this secret knowledge. Hands are cupped around ears, and rules are whispered on hissing breath: "Never let a black cat cross your path!"
Will little girls forever pluck the petals of daisies, murmuring "He loves me, he loves me not..."?
Will I always make a wish when the clock reads "11:11"?
Will schoolyards ever ring with the hauntingly familiar cry?:
"Jinx! You owe me a Coke!"
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