A little cock-sparrow
sat on a tree,
Looking as happy as happy could be,
Till a boy came by, with his bow and arrow,
Says he, I will shoot the little cock-sparrow.
His body will make me
a nice stew,
And his giblets will make me a little pie, too.
Says the little cock-sparrow, I’ll be shot if
I stay,
So he clapped his wings and then flew away.
Cuckoo, cherry tree,
Catch a bird, and give it me.
Let the tree be high or low,
Let it hail, rain, or snow.
There was a little man, and he had a little gun,
And his bullets were made of lead, lead, lead;
He shot Johnny Sprig through the middle of his wig,
And knocked it right off his head, head, head.
Pat a cake, pat a cake, baker’s man,
Bake me a cake as fast as you can;
Pat it and prick it and mark it with T,
And put in the oven for Tommy and me.
Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a thief;
Taffy came to my house and stole a piece of beef;
I went to Taffy’s house, Taffy was not at home;
Taffy came to my house and stole a marrow bone.
In the merry month of May
When green leaves begin
to spring,
Little lambs do skip like fairies,
Birds do couple, build,
and sing.
(An Egg)
In marble walls as white as milk,
Lined with a skin as soft as silk,
Within a fountain crystal clear,
A golden apple doth appear,
No doors there are to this stronghold,
Yet things break in and steal the gold.
Little Cock Robin peeped out of his nest,
To see the cold winter
come in,
Tit for tat, what matter for that,
He’ll hide his
head under his wing!
Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November;
February has twenty-eight alone;
All the rest have thirty-one,
Excepting leap-year—that’s the time
When February’s days are twenty-nine.
The man in the wilderness asked me,
How many strawberries grew in the sea;
I answered him, as I thought good,
As many as red herrings grew in the wood.
Molly, my sister, and I fell out,
And what do you think it was about?
She loved coffee and I loved tea,
And that was the reason we could not agree.
My maid Mary, she minds her dairy,
While I go hoeing and
mowing each morn;
Merrily run the reel and the little spinning wheel,
Whilst I am singing
and mowing my corn.
A little boy went into a barn,
And lay down on some
hay;
An owl came out and flew about,
And the little boy ran
away.
Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
Silver bells, and cockle shells and pretty maids all
in a row.
Little girl, little girl, where have you been?
Gathering roses to give to the Queen.
Little girl, little girl, what gave she you?
She gave me a diamond as big as my shoe.
Diddley, Diddley, Dumpty;
The cat ran up the plum tree.
I’ll wager a crown
I’ll fetch you down;
Sing, Diddledy, Diddledy, Dumpty.