Little Bunny Foo Foo

"Little Rabbit Foo Foo" or "Little Bunny Foo Foo" ("Foo Foo" is sometimes spelled as "Fu Fu") is a children's poem, involving a rabbit harassing a population of field mice. The rabbit is scolded and eventually punished by a fairy. Like many traditional folk songs, there are multiple versions with differing variations.

The poem is sung to the tune of "Down by the Station" (1948), and melodically similar to "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and the popular French-Canadian children's song "Alouette" (1879).

The rhyme is usually sung by an older person to a younger child, using a repetitive tune that reinforces the meter, accompanied by hand gestures. It is often passed as childlore.

Versions

One of the more popular versions of the song is:[1]

Little bunny Foo Foo
Hopping through the forest
Scooping up the field mice
And bopping them on the head
Down came the Good Fairy, and she said
"Little bunny Foo Foo
I don't want to see you
Scooping up the field mice
And bopping them on the head.
I'll give you three chances,
And if you don't stop, I'll turn you into a GOON!"
And the next day...

The verses repeat each time with one chance fewer until the final verse which the fairy said

"I gave you three chances, and you didn't stop; so...."
        • . She turned him into a GOON!

Sometimes “bopping” is replaced with “kissing.”

Variations

In some versions the Good Fairy turns Little Bunny Foo Foo into a goose or a Goon.[2] In other versions, Little Bunny Foo Foo reforms and is rewarded by the fairy by not being transmogrified. There are versions, where the Angel Gabriel is used instead of the Good Fairy, in others the Green Fairy. Some versions replace "I don't wanna see you" with "I don't like your attitude" or "What am I gonna do with you". "Hopping through the forest" is also often replaced by "riding in the forest" and goon is often written as goonie. Sometimes a final verse is added:

Little goonie Foo-Foo
Swimming through the water
Scooping up the tadpoles
And bopping them on the head!

One common ending has Little Bunny Foo Foo turned into a Goon, with a pun ending "And the moral of the story is: Hare today, goon tomorrow." [3] [4] [5] This form of story telling with a pun ending is also known as a feghoot.

In Brazil the song was translated into Portuguese by the Brazilian singer Xuxa for the album Xuxa Só Para Baixinhos 3 ("Xuxa Only for Little Ones"), with the name Coelhinho Fufu. In it, instead of bopping the field mice on the head, he sharply kisses them and (though not said in the song lyrics) drops them, and the Good Fairy (known literally as the Fairy Godmother) gives him a long lecture, and the penalty for using up his three chances by disobeying is being turned into a duckling.

In Cori Doerrfeld's children's book Little Bunny Foo Foo: The Real Story, a female Little Bunny Foo Foo is portrayed making small cakes. However, rats would constantly come and steal her desserts. This irritates her so much that she chases and pounds the rats in their heads. The fairy, who is unaware of the rats' thievery, however, blames Little Bunny Foo Foo for the pounding, and tells her to stop. The bunny tries to be peaceful but the way the rats still try to steal her delicacies make her want to go physical on them. After three warnings ignored, the fairy morphs Little Bunny Foo Foo into a giant vicious gerbil. The giant gerbil gets revenge by chasing and finally devouring the fairy. The gerbil returns home to enjoy her cakes. The attendees at her party don't seem to mind her appearance.[6]

Lenore, the Cute Little Dead Girl where Lenore plays as Little Bunny Foo Foo and gets told to stop bopping field mice on the head by the Good Fairy. She continues bopping other animals instead, and so the Good Fairy reappears and reprimands her by saying: "No bopping ANY animals on the head!" Lenore responds by bopping the fairy. The moral of the story was: "Be more specific".

This was used in the English dub of Episode 2 of Pop Team Epic in place of the Japanese children's folk song At a Quiet Lakeside (しずかな湖畔の)[7]. The My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic chapter book Fluttershy and the Fine Furry Friends Fair references the poem with a mentioned circus rabbit whose routine involves field mice. The poem also provides part of the plot for The 7D episode "Hop To It Dopey!" in which Dopey attempts to halt Foo Foo's attacks on the field mice.

In the South Park episode "Something You Can Do with Your Finger", Butters sings "Little Bunny Foo Foo" to audition for a boy band.

Bibliography

Illustrated children's books:

  • Little Rabbit Foo Foo by Michael Rosen illustrated by Harold Robins, Walker Books Ltd, 2003, ISBN 978-0-7445-9800-1
  • Little Bunny Foo Foo: Told and Sung by the Good Fairy by Paul Brett Johnson, Scholastic Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0-439-37301-2

References

  1. ↑ "Little Bunny Foo Foo – Kids Songs & Nursery Rhymes – MakingMusicFun.net". makingmusicfun.net.
  2. ↑ Inside the classroom (and out), Kenneth L. Untiedt, p. 36.
  3. ↑ ""Little Bunny Foo Foo" Song Lyrics". Grandparents.com. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  4. ↑ "Little Bunny Foo Foo". KIDiddles. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  5. ↑ Hannah Heller. "Sing Along Little Bunny Foo Foo". Speakaboos. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  6. ↑ amandajlepper (April 14, 2014). "Books for the Easter Basket". GOING ON A BOOK HUNT. Retrieved 2016-03-03.
  7. ↑ http://www.thejapanesepage.com/audio/kohan/

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