Epigraph
Old Mother Goose, when
She wanted to wander,
Would ride through the air
On a very fine gander.
Cock-a-doodle-doo,
My dame has lost her shoe;
My master’s lost his fiddlestick,
And knows not what to do.
Peter, Peter, pumpkin eater,
Had a wife and couldn’t keep her;
He put her in a pumpkin shell,
And then he kept her very well.
Peter, Peter, pumpkin eater,
Had another, and didn’t love her;
Peter learned to read and spell,
And then he loved her very well.
Lady-bird, Lady-bird,
Fly away home,
Your house is on fire,
Your children will burn.
One misty, moisty morning,
When cloudy was the weather,
I chanced to meet an old man clothed all in leather.
He began to compliment, and I began to grin,
How do you do, and how do you do?
And how do you do again?
I like little pussy, her coat is so warm,
And if I don’t hurt her she’ll do me no harm;
So I’ll not pull her tail, nor drive her away,
But pussy and I very gently will play.
Little Bo-peep has lost her sheep,
And can’t tell where to find them;
Leave them alone, and they’ll come home,
And bring their tails behind them.
Little Nanny Etticoat
In a white petticoat,
And a red nose;
The longer she stands
The shorter she grows.
Jack, be nimble; Jack, be quick;
Jack, jump over the candlestick.
Pretty John Watts,
We are troubled with rats,
Will you drive them out of the house?
We have mice, too, in plenty,
That feast in the pantry,
But let them stay
And nibble away,
What harm in a little brown mouse?
I’ll tell you a story
About Mary Morey,
And now my story’s begun.
I’ll tell you another
About her brother,
And now my story’s done.
Hush-a-bye, Baby, upon the tree top,
When the wind blows the cradle will rock;
When the bough breaks the cradle will fall,
Down tumbles cradle and Baby and all.
Ride away, ride away,
Johnny shall ride,
And he shall have pussy-cat
Tied to one side;
And he shall have little dog
Tied to the other,
And Johnny shall ride
To see his grandmother.
Dickery, dickery, dock,
The mouse ran up the clock;
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down,
Dickery, dickery, dock.
A, B, C, D, E, F, G,
H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P,
Q, R, S, and T, U, V,
W, X, and Y and Z.
Now I’ve said my A, B, C,
Tell me what you think of me.
The little robin grieves
When the snow is on the ground,
For the trees have no leaves,
And no berries can be found.
The air is cold, the worms are hid;
For robin here what can be done?
Let’s strow around some crumbs of bread,
And then he’ll live till snow is gone.
Little Tommy Tittlemouse
Lived in a little house;
He caught fishes
In other men’s ditches.
About the bush, Willie, about the bee-hive,
About the bush, Willie, I’ll meet thee alive.
Bah, bah, black sheep,
Have you any wool?
Yes, marry, have I,
Three bags full;
One for my master,
One for my dame,
But none for the little boy
Who cries in the lane.
Hickety, pickety, my black hen,
She lays eggs for gentlemen:
Gentlemen come every day
To see what my black hen doth lay.
Willie boy, Willie boy,
Where are you going?
O, let us go with you
This sunshiny day.
I’m going to the meadow
To see them a-mowing,
I’m going to help the girls
Turn the new hay.
Three children sliding on the ice
Upon a summer’s day,
As it fell out, they all fell in,
The rest they ran away.
Oh, had these children been at school,
Or sliding on dry ground,
Ten thousand pounds to one penny
They had not then been drowned.
Ye parents who have children dear,
And ye, too, who have none,
If you would keep them safe abroad,
Pray keep them safe at home.
Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town,
Upstairs and downstairs, in his nightgown;
Tapping at the window, crying at the lock:
“Are the babes in their beds, for it’s now ten o’clock?”
There was an old woman who lived in a shoe,
She had so many children she didn’t know what to do.
She gave them some broth without any bread,
She whipped them all soundly and put them to bed.
There was a man and he had naught,
And robbers came to rob him;
He crept up to the chimney top,
And then they thought they had him.
But he got down on the other side,
And then they could not find him;
He ran fourteen miles in fifteen days,
And never looked behind him.
There was an old man,
And he had a calf,
And that’s half;
He took him out of the stall,
And put him on the wall,
And that’s all.
Bow, wow, wow!
Whose dog art thou?
Little Tom Tinker’s dog,
Bow, wow, wow!
Pussy-Cat sits by the fire;
How can she be fair?
In walks the little dog;
Says: “Pussy, are you there?
How do you do, Mistress Pussy?
Mistress Pussy, how d’ye do?”
“I thank you kindly, little dog,
I fare as well as you!”
Here am I, little jumping Joan,
When nobody’s with me
I’m always alone.
There was an old woman lived under the hill,
And if she’s not gone she lives there still.
Baked apples she sold, and cranberry pies,
And she’s the old woman that never told lies.
Simple Simon met a pieman
Going to the fair;
Says Simple Simon to the pieman:
“Pray let me taste your ware.”
Says the pieman to Simple Simon:
“Show me first your penny;”
Says Simple Simon to the pieman:
“Indeed I have not any.”
Sing a song of sixpence, a bag full of rye,
Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie;
When the pie was opened the birds began to sing,
And wasn’t this a dainty dish to set before the king?
The king was in the parlor counting out his money;
The queen was in the kitchen eating bread and honey;
The maid was in the garden hanging out the clothes,
There came a little blackbird and nipped off her nose.