Back in my childhood days, my friends and I used to play traditional Balinese children game called “meong-meongan” or “the cat” game. It is a simple game, derived from the well known theme of a cat chasing a mouse. But this time I will not talk about the game but the song that accompanied this game. The game is accompanied by a simple a joyful traditional Balinese children song entitled “meong-meong” (free translation into English: “cat, oh cat”)

The song runs as follow:

Meong-meong alih je bikule (cat, oh cat, please catch the mice)
Bikul gede-gede buin mokoh-mokoh (the mice are big and fat)
Kereng pesan ngerusuhin (always making troubles)
Juk meng, juk kul, juk meng, juk kul (catch the cat, catch the mice, catch the cat, catch the mice)
Dije nengeng ditu nengkul (where the eyes open widely, there crouching)

Yes, a plain and simple song, but we sung it with a lot of joy back in those days. There were other traditional Balinese children songs like “goak maling taluh” (crow stealing egg), “Dadong Dauh” (grandma Dauh), Made Cenik (little Made), etc, that we used to sing during our playtime. Until now the memories of those songs keep coming back whenever I see my nephews, nieces and other children play together.

Unfortunately, they are no longer singing these old, plain and simple songs. They have a lot of toys now to play with. I believe their Balinese language teachers teach them this song at school, but since they do not play traditional Balinese children game the songs lose its significance. They just old, plain and simple songs that have to be sung in front of the class in order to get a good mark on Balinese language lesson. They do not sing them on the playground anymore.

Oh, how I long to hear those songs echo on the playground of my nephews and nieces once more.

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