Step on a Crack

DESCRIPTION: "Step on a crack, (You'll) break your mother's back, Step on a hole, (You'll) break your mother's (sugar bowl)." Similarly "ditch... mother's nose will itch"; "dirt... tear your father's shirt"; "nail... in jail"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1970 (Sackett/Koch-KansasFolklore)
KEYWORDS: nonballad warning
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Sackett/Koch-KansasFolklore, p. 120, "(Step on a crack)" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-AnnotatedMotherGoose #503, p. 214, "(Step in a hole)"
MidwestFolklore, Robert H. Woodward, "A Hoosier Folklore Heritage," Volume 11, Number 2 (Summer 1961) p. 71, "(Step on a crack--)" (1 text)
Roud #19442
File: SaKo120A

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography