Fee Fie Fiddle-Oh

Fee Fie Fiddle-Oh is a singing game played by the younger girls at the Vidala School in Gilead. It is one of the unofficial religious practices that coexist with the official teachings of the Aunts, passed from girl to girl through games and songs. The game serves as a darkly playful way for children to process the violent and oppressive elements of their world, including executions, Handmaids, and the loss of babies.

Structure and Lyrics

The game is structured as a call-and-response chant. The lyrics begin with a question: "Who's that hanging on the Wall? Fee Fie Fiddle-Oh!" The answer identifies the figure as a Handmaid, and the chant then names one of the girls in the group, declaring that she is now dead. The next line, "She had a baby in the pot," is accompanied by the girls slapping their own stomachs. The chant concludes with a counting rhyme: "One for murder, Two for kissing, Three for a baby, Four gone missing, Five for alive and Six for dead, And Seven we caught you, Red Red Red!" The seventh girl is then caught by the two counters, paraded around in a circle, and given a slap on the head, signifying that she is now "dead." This "dead" girl then chooses the next two executioners.

Significance and Interpretation

The game reflects the grim realities of Gilead, where Handmaids are frequently hanged on the Wall and babies are taken from them. The sequence of the counting rhyme is notable: "One for murder" comes before "Two for kissing," a reversal of what might seem a more natural order. This inversion suggests that in the world of the girls, violence and death are more immediate and foundational than romantic or sexual encounters. The Aunts likely tolerated this game, seeing it as containing a beneficial amount of warning and threat, reinforcing the dangers of deviance and the consequences of sin. For the girls, it was a way to make sense of the pervasive fear and violence surrounding them, transforming traumatic events into a familiar, if sinister, form of play. The game's popularity among the younger girls indicates that it served as a crucial, if disturbing, tool for socialization and coping within the oppressive environment of Gilead.