‘Dance now, Dance now, Doll of Mine’!

‘Yes, well this song is one for very young children!’ Auntie Malle assured them; ‘with the best will in the world, I’m unable to keep up!’

But little Amalie could; she was only three years old, played with dolls and brought them up to be just as wise as Auntie Malle.

A student used to come to the house to help her brothers with their lessons; he spoke a great deal to little Amalie and her dolls, talked quite differently from all the rest; it was so amusing, the young girl found, though Auntie Malle said that he didn’t know how to converse with children; their little heads couldn’t possibly grasp all he said. Little Amalie could, and she even learnt a whole song by heart from the student: ‘Dance now, dance now, doll of mine!’’ and she sang it to her three dolls, two of them were new, one was a young lady, the other a young man, but the third doll was an old one called Lise. She also got to hear the song and was even mentioned in it:

And the dolls understood the song, little Amalie understood it, the student understood it; he had composed it himself and said that it was quite excellent; only Auntie Malle didn’t understand it; she was well past the stage of childlike jollity – ‘mere frivolity’ she said. Not so Amalie, she sings it.

She’s the one we’ve got it from.