***
How many days has my baby to play?
Saturday, Sunday, Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
Saturday, Sunday, Monday.
***
Go to bed, Tom,
Go to bed, Tom,
Tired or not, Tom,
Go to bed, Tom.
Jerry Hall
Jerry Hall,
He is so small,
A rat could eat him,
Hat and all.
Robin Hood
Robin Hood
Has gone to the wood;
He’ll come back again
If we are good.
***
Little fishes in a brook,
Father caught them on a hook,
Mother fried them in a pan,
Johnnie eats them like a man.
***
Tommy Tittlemouse
Little Tommy Tittlemouse
Lived in a little house;
He caught fishes
In other men’s ditches.
***
One, two, three, four,
Mary at the cottage door,
Five, six, seven, eight,
Eating cherries off a plate.
***
One, two, three, four, five,
Once I caught a fish alive,
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten,
Then I let it go again.
Why did you let it go?
Because it bit my finger so.
Which finger did it bite?
The little finger on the right
Betty Blue
Little Betty Blue
Lost her holiday shoe,
What can little Betty do?
Give her another
To match the other,
And then she may walk out in two.
Little Girl
Little girl, little girl,
Where have you been?
I’ve been to see grandmother
Over the green.
What did she give you?
Milk in a can.
What did you say for it?
Thank you, Grandam.
***
Good Counsel for Children
Go to bed late,
Stay very small;
Go to bed early,
Grow very tall.
One thing at a time
And that done well,
Is a very good rule,
As many can tell.
Good, better, best;
Never rest
Till ‘good’ be ‘better’,
And ‘better’ ‘best’.
Elsie Marley
Elsie Marley is grown so fine,
She won’t get up to feed the swine,
But lies in bed till eight or nine
Lazy Elsie Marley.
William McTrirnbletoe
William McTrimbletoe,
He’s a good fisherman,
Catches fishes,
Puts them in dishes,
Catches hens,
Puts them in pens;
Some lay eggs,
Some lay none,
William McTrimbletoe,
He doesn’t eat one.
Gregory Griggs
Gregory Griggs, Gregory Griggs,
Had twenty-seven different wigs.
He wore them up, he wore them down,
To please the people of the town;
He wore them east, he wore them west,
But he never could tell which he loved the best.
Dob and Mob
There was a man,
And his name was Dob,
And he had a wife,
And her name was Mob.
And he had a dog,
And he called it Bob,
And she had a cat,
Called Chitterabob.
Bob, says Dob;
Chitterabob, says Mob.
Bob was Dob’s dog,
Chitterabob Mob’s cat.
Dame Trot
Dame Trot and her cat
Sat down for a chat;
The Dame sat on this side
And puss sat on that.
Puss, says the Dame,
Can you catch a rat,
Or a mouse in the dark?
Purr, says the cat.
Hector Protector
Hector Protector was dressed all in green;
Hector Protector was sent to the Queen.
The Queen did not like him,
No more did the King;
So Hector Protector was sent back again.
Abram Brown
Old Abram Brown is dead and gone,
You’ll never see him more;
He used to wear a long brown coat
That buttoned down before.
Robin and Richard
Robin and Richard
Were two pretty men,
They lay in bed
Till the clock struck ten;
Then up starts Robin
And looks at the sky,
Oh, brother Richard,
The sun’s very high.
You go before
With a bottle and bag,
And I will come after
On little Jack Nag.
The Dame of Dundee
There was an old woman
Who lived in Dundee,
And in her back garden
There grew a plum tree;
The plums they grew rotten
Before they grew ripe,
And she sold them
Three farthings a pint.
Solomon Grundy
Solomon Grundy,
Born on a Monday,
Christened on Tuesday,
Married on Wednesday,
Took ill on Thursday,
Worse on Friday,
Died on Saturday,
Buried on Sunday.
This is the end
Of Solomon Grundy.
***
For want of a nail
The shoe was lost,
For want of a shoe
The horse was lost,
For want of a horse
The rider was lost,
For want of a rider
The battle was lost,
For want of a battle
The kingdom was lost,
And all for the want
Of a horse shoe nail.
This Is The Key
This is the key of the kingdom:
In that kingdom there is a city.
In that city there is a town.
In that town there is a street.
In that street there is a lane.
In that lane there is a yard.
In that yard there is a house.
In that house there is a room.
In that room there is a bed.
On that bed there is a basket.
In that basket there are some flowers.
Flowers in a basket.
Basket on the bed.
Bed in the room.
Room in the house.
House in the yard.
Yard in the lane.
Lane in the street.
Street in the town.
Town in the city.
City in the kingdom.
Of the kingdom this is the key.
The House That Jack Built
{Extract)
This is the house that Jack built.
This is the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the rat
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the maiden all forlorn,
That milked the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the man all tattered and torn,
That kissed the maiden all forlorn,
That milked the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the priest all shaven and shorn,
That married the man all tattered and torn,
That kissed the maiden all forlorn,
That milked the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the cock that crowed in the morn,
That waked the priest all shaven and shorn,
That married the man all tattered and torn,
That kissed the maiden all forlorn,
That milked the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.