I Saw Esau is a good-natured collection of childrens'
rhymes, playground chants, immature insults,
tongue-twisters and
jeers.
Edited by Iona and Peter Opie,
illustrated by Maurice Sendak, and published by Candlewick Press. Often peculiar, it has an evident schoolboy/schoolgirl tone, the type which no one over 12 finds
offensive but resembles the end of the world to children under 6. The title poem goes as follows:
I saw Esau kissing Kate,
The fact is we all three saw;
For I saw him,
And he saw me,
And she saw I saw Esau.
Another little chant:
Charlie, Charlie, in the tub,
Charlie, Charlie, pulled out the plug.
Oh my goodness, oh my soul,
There goes Charlie down the hole.