Young Canada's Nursery Rhymes

Excerpt

There was a crooked man, and he went 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.

Curly locks, curly locks, wilt thou be mine?
Thou shalt not wash dishes, nor yet feed the swine;
But sit on a cushion, and sew a fine seam,
And feed upon strawberries, sugar, and cream.

My little old man and I fell out,
I'll tell you what it was all about;
I had money and he had none,
And that's the way the noise begun.

Bow-wow-wow, whose dog art thou?
Little Tom Tucker's dog, bow-wow-wow.

Multiplication is vexation,
Division is as bad;
The Rule of Three doth puzzle me,
And Practice drives me mad.

See a pin and pick it up,
All the day you'll have good luck;
See a pin and let it lay,
Bad luck you'll have all the day.

Jack Sprat could eat no fat,
His wife could eat no lean;
And so betwixt them both, you see,
They made the platter clean.

(A Star)
Higher than a house, higher than a tree;
Oh! Whatever can that be?

Little Miss Muffett
She sat on a tuffett,
Eating of curds and whey;
There came a great spider
Who sat down beside her,
And frightened Miss Muffett away.

Little Bo-peep has lost her sheep,
And cannot tell where to find them;
Leave them alone, and they'll come home,
And bring their tails behind them.

1. This pig went to market; 2. This pig stayed at home; 3. This pig had a bit of meat; 4. And this pig had none; 5. This pig said, Wee, wee, wee! 6. I can't find my way home.

Little Polly Flinders
Sate among the cinders
Warming her pretty little toes!
Her mother came and caught her,
And whipped her little daughter,
For spoiling her nice new clothes.

Dance little baby, dance up high,
Never mind baby, mother is nigh;
Crow and caper, caper and crow,
There little baby, there…you go;
Up to the ceiling, down to the ground
Backwards and forwards, round and round.
Dance little baby, mother will sing,
With the merry coral, ding, ding, ding.

Here sits the Lord Mayor…………………….forehead.
     Here sits his two men ………………….eyes.
Here sits the cock………………………….right cheek.
     Here sits the hen………………………left cheek.
Here sit the little chickens…………………tip of nose.
     Here they run in……………………….mouth
Chin-chopper, chin-chopper, chin-chopper, chin!..chuck the chin.

To market, To market, to buy a fat pig,
Home again, home again, jiggety jig.
To market, To market, to buy a fat hog,
Home again, home again, jiggety jog.

Jack and Jill went up the hill,
To fetch a pail of water;
Jack fell down, and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.

Swan, swan, over the sea;
Swim, swan, swim.
Swan, swan, back again;
Well swam, swan.

Humpty-Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty-Dumpty had a great fall;
All the king's horses, and all the king's men,
Cannot put Humpty-Dumpty together again.

I had a little hobby horse,
     And it was dapple grey;
Its head was made of pea-straw,
     Its tail was made of hay.
I sold it to an old woman
     For a copper groat;
And I'll not sing my song again
     Without a new coat.

Handy Spanky, Jack-a-dandy,
Loves plum-cake and sugar-candy;
He bought some at a grocer's shop....