ten little indians

Ten Little Indians
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For other uses, see Ten Little Indians (disambiguation).
Ten Little Indians is a modern children's rhyme (sometimes "teddy bears" is used instead of Indians to avoid offense). The song, supra, is usually performed to the Irish folk tune Michael Finnegan.


[edit] History
The rhyme was notable for being the inspiration for Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None

The modern lyrics are believed to be public domain and are as follows:

One little, two little, three little Indians
Four little, five little, six little Indians
Seven little, eight little, nine little Indians
Ten little Indian boys.
Ten little, nine little, eight little Indians
Seven little, six little, five little Indians
Four little, three little, two little Indians
One little Indian boy.
The original piece, then called "10 Little Injuns", was written by songwriter Septimus Winner in the 1860's for a minstrel show and was much more elaborate.

Ten little Injuns standin' in a line,
One toddled home and then there were nine;
Nine little Injuns swingin' on a gate,
One tumbled off and then there were eight.
One little, two little, three little, four little, five little Injun boys,
Six little, seven little, eight little, nine little, ten little Injun boys.
Eight little Injuns gayest under heav'n.
One went to sleep and then there were seven;
Seven little Injuns cuttin' up their tricks,
One broke his neck and then there were six.
Six little Injuns all alive,
One kicked the bucket and then there were five;
Five little Injuns on a cellar door,
One tumbled in and then there were four.
Four little Injuns up on a spree,
One got fuddled and then there were three;
Three little Injuns out on a canoe,
One tumbled overboard and then there were two.
Two little Injuns foolin' with a gun,
One shot t'other and then there was one;
One little Injun livin' all alone,
He got married and then there were none.
There was another version of that song:

Ten little Indian boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were Nine.
Nine little Indian boys sat up very late; One overslept himself and then there were Eight.
Eight little Indian boys traveling in Devon; One said he'd stay there and then there were Seven.
Seven little Indian boys chopping up sticks; One chopped himself in halves and then there were Six.
Six little Indian boys playing with a hive; A bumblebee stung one and then there were Five.
Five little Indian boys going in for law; One got into Chancery and then there were Four.
Four little Indian boys going out to sea; A red herring swallowed one and then there were Three.
Three little Indian boys walking in the Zoo; A big bear hugged one and then there were Two.
Two little Indian boys were out in the sun; One got all frizzled up and then there was one. (in some versions Two Little Indian boys playing with a gun; One shot the other and then there was one.)
One little Indian boy left all alone; He went out and hanged himself and then there were none.

[edit] Modern use
Some children's music artists and television shows have this song (or versions to the tune of it) on them. Barney & Friends is an example of this, with Bumping Up and Down in some episodes and Ten Little Monsters in What's That Shadow?, Ten Little Pennies, Nickels and Dimes in Pennies, Nickels, Dimes, along with A-Counting We Will Go! and Ten Little Fingers and Toes in Having Tens of Fun!

'Ten Little Indians' production called off
Race, violence issues raised by community, students lead to cancellation of play.
Click-2-Listen
By Lindsey Hilty

Staff Writer

Thursday, November 22, 2007

The Lakota East High School production of "Ten Little Indians" has been canceled officials said Tuesday.

Officials debated for two weeks about whether to publicly present the play, based on a 1939 Agatha Christie novel that used a title containing a racial epithet.

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East principal Keith Kline received calls from community members who were offended or concerned with the racial slander in the original title. School officials decided to use the play, scheduled to run Dec. 1-2, as a teachable moment for students with proceeds going toward education programs focused on sensitivity to racism.

But school spokesman Jon Weidlich said there was still much angst among students and school officials over the title as well as the content of the play in which characters are killed off one by one.

He said murders had a theme of genocide and with school violence such an issue, administrators thought it would not be wise to portray violence in a school sponsored production.

"All the way around, it didn't seem appropriate," he said.

While students are disappointed, he said they also realize this is for the best.

"They've worked hard on this," Weidlich said, "but I think they also understand sometimes something unexpected happens."

Principal Keith Kline, Superintendent Mike Taylor and Director Rich Schmalz made the final decision, sending home a letter to parents and speaking to students Tuesday. They wrote that for some, the hurt and offense for the play has been personal. Others, they stated, are concerned about the reaction from their friends and colleagues and understand this issue could cause division among students and among the community.

"The issue has been a roller coaster for students involved in the production, who have been caught in the middle of this issue, and we are very sorry," read the letter to parents. "It has become obvious over the last several days that in 2007, words and themes from seven decades ago still have the power to offend and divide. Our hope had been that performing the play would create an opportunity to have a dialogue in our community about race and prejudice, but we understand better now that the potential hurt caused by the performances could have the opposite effect
TWP. - A widely performed school play has been canceled by Lakota officials after a recent meeting with a local NAACP official.

The internationally acclaimed play - Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians" - was to be performed by students at Lakota East High School this weekend.

But Gary Hines, president of the local NAACP branch, recently complained to Lakota officials that the play, based on Christie's 1939 mystery novel, was inappropriate for a school production.


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Hines said the book's original title and cover illustration used for its initial publishing that year in England was a racial slur toward blacks and included a cover illustration of a black person and a hangman's noose.

"The original title was 'Ten Little (N - - - - - -),' and it is important to say that because that was the actual title," Hines said Monday.

The title of the international bestseller was widely changed after 1939, and school theater productions in America have performed the murder mystery play as either "Ten Little Indians" or "And Then There Were None" for decades since.

Hines claims that a lack of racial diversity among Lakota's students and teachers allowed the play to be chosen despite the history surrounding its original title.

"It's a lack of diversity knowledge on their part. Diversity is not a way of life in Lakota," Hines said.

But Hines, who operates GPH Consultants - a diversity training company - in West Chester Township, said that despite his strong protest, it was Lakota officials' idea to cancel the play in response to his complaints.

Jon Weidlich, spokesman for Butler County school district, said subsequent discussions - after district officials met with Hines earlier this month - among students and staff at Lakota East High School led to the decision to cancel the play.

"After learning of the play's origins and the hurt that it caused, we had hoped to use the performances as a way to create a discussion about diversity of all kinds in our community. However, students and staff continued to raise issues, and it was quickly obvious that bad feelings about the play were much more widespread and strong than originally thought. The best action seemed to be to switch to a different play," Weidlich said.

Keith Kline, Lakota East principal, said: "Certainly, it was a tough decision but one that needed to be made.

"Doing the play now is not a way to promote the respectfulness we are trying to promote."

But Joan Powell, president of the Lakota Board of Education, criticized Hines, whose local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People includes Liberty and West Chester townships, Hamilton and Fairfield.

Powell said Hines has a history of making racial accusations against Lakota schools with his personal financial interests sometimes coming into play.

In 2002, Hines accused Lakota schools of widespread, systemic racism and recommended that more than 2,000 Lakota employees be required to enroll in diversity and cultural sensitivity training similar to what was offered by his company. He promised to compile a report months later detailing his accusations against the schools but never produced a document.

Hines, however, has continued to allege racism in the school district.

Most recently in a Nov. 20 e-mail to Powell and other Lakota school board members, he wrote: "Given the history of the district, anything short of involving the NAACP in planning, developing, and executing a systemic approach to diversity is not acceptable and certainly not good enough for the district's students, faculty, and staff."

Powell countered that "Gary Hines has a certain vested interest in district's diversity since he has approached us many times in the past about providing that service."

She disagrees with the administration's decision to cancel the play.

"I'm concerned about censorship, and I'm concerned about the message it sends to other student productions that we are now in the business of censorship," Powell said.

Lakota East senior Luke Null, who has rehearsed since September to perform as one of the lead characters, said "pressure from the local NAACP canceled the play."

"I read the play as part of a class in the ninth grade. There are no racial undertones in it at all, and we weren't putting on the play under it's original name from 1939. We were putting on the play under another name," Null said. He and other theater students are now scrambling to find another play to perform some time early in 2008.

"Some of our First Amendment rights were censored. The race card is a pretty strong card," he said.