Besedilo (Lyrics)
Celotno besedilo pesmi »Uboga, uboga ježeva mati« z angleškim prevodom.
Uboga, uboga ježeva mati, kolko je, kolko je mogla prestati, morala je, morala ježa rodili, pa jo je, pa jo je pikal po riti.
#English translation
Poor, poor hedgehog mother, how much, oh how much she had to endure, she had to, she had to give birth to a hedgehog, and it pricked her, it pricked her, all over her behind.
#Uboga, uboga ježeva mati at a glance
- Country of origin
- 🇸🇮 Slovenia
- Sung in
- Slovenian
- Words by
- Traditional
- First known
- Slovenian children's rhyme; author unknown
- Best for ages
- 2–7
- Mood
- playful, traditional
- Last updated
- 25 July 2026
Meaning and origin
This is a tiny comic rhyme built on one deadpan joke: pity the poor hedgehog’s mother. It marvels, with exaggerated sympathy, at everything she had to put up with — she had to give birth to a hedgehog, after all, and the spiky little thing pricked her the whole time. The humour comes entirely from taking an obvious fact about hedgehogs (they are covered in prickles) and treating it as a genuine hardship worthy of solemn condolence.
It is the kind of short, silly nonsense verse children love precisely because it is a little bit rude and very absurd. No author is recorded — it is treated here as a traditional Slovenian children’s rhyme, handed down by word of mouth — and its whole charm is its brevity: a single ridiculous idea, delivered straight, and gone before it outstays its welcome.
Common questions
- What is this rhyme about?
- A comic show of sympathy for the hedgehog's mother. It marvels at how much she had to endure — she had to give birth to a hedgehog, and it pricked her all the while with its spines. The joke is the absurd, deadpan pity for a mother whose own baby is covered in prickles.
- Is "Uboga, uboga ježeva mati" meant seriously?
- No — it is a piece of nonsense humour. It takes the obvious fact that baby hedgehogs are spiky and turns it into mock-sympathy for the poor mother, which children find very funny.
- Who wrote "Uboga, uboga ježeva mati"?
- No author is recorded; it is treated as a traditional Slovenian children's rhyme, of the short comic kind passed on by word of mouth.
