Born in the morning, woe without warning

Born in the morning, woe without warning is a nursery rhyme that Nanny singsongs to Melena, years ago, in the nursery at Colwen Grounds. The proverb runs: "Born in the morning, / Woe without warning; / Afternoon child / Woeful and wild; / Born in the evening, / Woe ends in grieving. / Night baby borning / Same as the morning." Melena remembers this as a fond joke, reflecting that woe is the natural end of life, yet people go on having babies. Nanny, editorializing as usual, counters that women only have babies when they are young enough not to know how grim life turns out; once they really get the full measure of it, they dry up in disgust and sensibly halt production. Melena objects that men don't dry up, they can father to the death, and Nanny replies that women are slow learners, but men can't learn at all. The rhyme thus encapsulates the novel's fatalistic view of life's inherent suffering and the gendered dynamics of procreation and awareness.