Higglety, pigglety, pop!
The dog has eaten the mop;
The pig’s in a hurry,
The cat’s in a flurry,
Higglety, pigglety, pop!
***
Hickory, dickory, dock,
The mouse ran up the clock.
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down,
Hickory, dickory, dock.
***
Hey diddle, diddle,
The cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon;
The little dog laughed
To see such sport,
And the dish ran away with the spoon.
***
Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John,
Went to bed with his trousers on;
One shoe off, and one shoe on,
Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John.
The Flying Pig
Dickery, dickery, dare,
The pig flew up in the air;
The man in brown
Soon brought him down,
Dickery, dickery, dare.
Humpty-Dumpty
Humpty-Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty-Dumpty had a great fall;
All the King’s horses and all the King’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again.
Washing Up
When I was a little boy
I washed my mammy’s dishes;
I put my finger in my eye,
And pulled out golden fishes.
Caution
Mother, may I go out to swim?
Yes, my darling daughter,
Hang your clothes on a hickory tree
But don’t go near the water.
Tom Tittlemouse
Little Tom Tittlemouse
Lived in a bell-house;
The bell-house broke,
And Tom Tittlemouse woke.
Doctor Foster
Doctor Foster went to Gloucester
In a shower of rain;
He stepped in a puddle,
Right up to his middle,
And never went there again.
Silly
Gilly Silly Jarter,
She lost her garter,
In a shower of rain.
The miller found it,
The miller ground it,
And the miller gave it to Silly again.
On Oath
As I went to Bonner,
I met a pig
Without a wig,
Upon my word and honour.
The Old Woman in a Shoe
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.
An Old Woman
There was an old woman
Lived under a hill,
She put a mouse in a bag,
And sent it to the mill.
The miller did swear
By point of his knife,
He never took toll
Of a mouse in his life.
Peter White
Peter White will ne’er go right;
Would you know the reason why?
He follows his nose wherever he goes,
And that stands all awry.
A Man in the Wilderness
A man in the wilderness asked me,
How many strawberries grow in the sea.
I answered him, as I thought good,
As many red herrings as swim in the wood.
And That’s All
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.
The Wise Men of Gotham
Three wise men of Gotham
Went to sea in a bowl;
If the bowl had been stronger,
My story would have been longer.
The King and His Daughters
There was a king, and he had three daughters,
And they all lived in a basin of water;
The basin bended,
My story’s ended.
If the basin had been stronger,
My story would have been longer.
The Crooked Man
There was a crooked man,
And he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence
Against a crooked stile;
He bought a crooked cat,
Which caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together
In a little crooked house.
***
If all the world was paper,
And all the sea was ink,
If all the trees were bread and cheese,
What should we have to drink?
***
If all the seas were one sea,
What a great sea that would be!
If all the trees were one tree,
What a great tree that would be!
And if all the axes were one axe,
What a great axe that would be!
And if all the men were one man,
What a great man that would be!
And if the great man took the great axe,
And cut down the great tree,
And let it fall into the great sea,
What a splish-splash that would be!
Robin the Bobbin
Robin the Bobbin, the big-bellied Ben,
He ate more meat than fourscore men;
He ate a cow, he ate a calf,
He ate a butcher and a half,
He ate a church, he ate a steeple,
He ate a priest and all the people!
A cow and a calf,
An ox and a half,
A church and a steeple,
And all good people,
And yet he complained that his stomach wasn’t full
The Little Woman and the Pedlar
There was a little woman,
As I have heard tell,
She went to market
Her eggs for to sell;
She went to market
All on a market day,
And she fell asleep
On the king’s highway.
There came by a pedlar,
His name was Stout,
He cut her petticoats
All round about;
He cut her petticoats
Up to her knees;
Which made the little woman
To shiver and sneeze.
When this little woman
Began to awake,
She began to shiver,
And she began to shake;
She began to shake,
And she began to cry,
Lawk a mercy on me,
This is none of I!
But if this be I,
As I do hope it be,
I have a little dog at home
And he knows me;
If it be I,
He’ll wag his little tail,
And if it be not I
He’ll loudly bark and wail!
Home went the little woman
All in the dark,
Up starts the little dog,
And he began to bark;
He began to bark,
And she began to cry,
Lawk a mercy on me,
This is none of I!