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The terms eenee, meenee, mainee, and mo can be found in Rudyard Kipling’s “A Counting-Out Song“ from Land and Sea Tales for Scouts and Guides, published in 1935. I knew the last five lines of the first stanza word-for-word being a child of the ’50s and wondered if there was more to it. Indeed, I found many other verses not as well known. The poem, in its entirety, is shown below.
In the poem, “The First Big Four of the Long Ago” is an allusion to “Big Four,” which are the largest accounting firms today, measured by revenue. In other words, the terms eenee, meenee, mainee, and mo were used as ancient forms of counting and making possibly life-changing decisions. This counting system, technically called the Anglo-Cymirc Score, existed for specific ritual purposes such as shepherds counting sheep, women keeping track of knitting, and fishermen harvesting their catch. The rhyme found its way into the African American community which may have influenced the “Catch a n*gger by the toe” racial slur in the first stanza. The shift from n*gger to tiger was later made.
Below is the original poem in its entirety.
Beverly Stock.
A Counting-Out Song
by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)
What is the song the children sing,
When doorway lilacs bloom in Spring,
And the Schools are loosed, and the games are played
That were deadly earnest when Earth was made?
Hear them chattering, shrill and hard,
After dinner-time, out in the yard,
As the sides are chosen and all submit
To the chance of the lot that shall make them “It.”
(Singing) “Eenee, Meenee, Mainee, Mo!
Catch a nigger by the toe!
(If he hollers let him go!
Eenee, Meenee. Mainee, Mo!
You-are-It!”
Eenee, Meenee, Mainee, and Mo
Were the First Big Four of the Long Ago,
When the Pole of the Earth sloped thirty degrees,
And Central Europe began to freeze,
And they needed Ambassadors staunch and stark
To steady the Tribes in the gathering dark:
But the frost was fierce and flesh was frail,
So they launched a Magic that could not fail.
(Singing) “Eenee, Meenee, Mainee, Mo!
Hear the wolves across the snow!
Some one has to kill ’em—so
Eenee, Meenee, Mainee, Mo
Make—you—It!”
Slowly the Glacial Epoch passed,
Central Europe thawed out at last;
And, under the slush of the melting snows
The first dim shapes of the Nations rose.
Rome, Britannia, Belgium, Gaul—
Flood and avalanche fathered them all;
And the First Big Four, as they watched the mess,
Pitied Man in his helplessness.
(Singing) “Eenee, Meenee, Mainee, Mo!
Trouble starts When Nations grow,
Some one has to stop it—so
Eenee, Meenee, Mainee, Mo!
Make-you-It!”
Thus it happened, but none can tell
What was the Power behind the spell—
Fear, or Duty, or Pride, or Faith—
That sent men shuddering out to death—
To cold and watching, and, worse than these,
Work, more work, when they looked for ease—
To the days discomfort, the nights despair,
In the hope of a prize that they never could share,
(Singing) “Eenee, Meenee, Mainee, Mo!
Man is born to Toil and Woe.
One will cure another—so
Eenee, Meenee, Mainee, Mo
Make—you—It!”
Once and again, as the Ice went North
The grass crept up to the Firth of Forth.
Once and again, as the Ice came South
The glaciers ground over Lossiemouth.
But, grass or glacier, cold or hot,
The men went out who would rather not,
And fought with the Tiger, the Pig and the Ape,
To hammer the world into decent shape.
(Singing) “Eenee, Meenee, Mainee, Mo!
What’s the use of doing so?
Ask the Gods, for we don’t know;
But Eenee, Meenee, Mainee, Mo
Make-us-It!”
Nothing is left of that terrible rune
But a tag of gibberish tacked to a tune
That ends the waiting and settles the claims
Of children arguing over their games;
For never yet has a boy been found
To shirk his turn when the turn came round;
Nor even a girl has been known to say
“If you laugh at me I shan’t play.”
For—“Eenee, Meenee, Mainee, Mo,
(Don’t you let the grown-ups know! )
You may hate it ever so,
But if you’re chose you’re bound to go,
When Eenee, Meenee, Mainee, Mo
Make-you-It!”
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Additional resources:
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/04/16/losing-count/
https://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/kipling/counting_out_song.html
https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/eeny-meeny-miny-mo.html
Beverly Stock is a poet from the American Mid-West. Find her poetry at www.BeverlyStockPoetry.com and BeverlyStockPoetry on Facebook.
A very interesting post, Beverly. Thank you!
What fun to know this; I had never known where that rhyme came from. Thank you!
Our chant always ended, “and out goes I O U,” which would exclude us from further participation in the running competition. Even then, an accurate count depended on which version of scansion one adhered to.