May 1st is Mother Goose Day!
It’s a good time to cuddle up with your little honey bunnies and share some classic nursery rhymes by that talented lady.
Actually, that lady’s name should be “Anonymous” because the Mother Goose rhymes were written by a collection of unknown men and women over a period of many years. These simple verses were passed down from one generation to the next and came to be known by tradition as “Mother Goose Rhymes.”
In the Mother Goose books which we find today, we come to know characters like “Little Boy Blue” and “Little Bo Peep.” But I had to ask myself, “Are there other characters and rhymes that aren’t so commonly known?” I decided to go on a hunt to find out and was pleasantly surprised to find that there are quite a large number of rhymes that go back a century or more. I thought that some of these gems would be the perfect present to share with you today on Mother Goose Day. So here they are. Enjoy!
Mother Goose Rhymes
A, B, C, tumble down D,
The cat’s in the cupboard, and can’t see me.
* * * * * * * * * *
Tommy Trot, a man of law,
Sold his bed and lay upon straw:
Sold the straw and slept on grass,
To buy his wife a looking-glass.
* * * * * * * * * *
Come dance a jig
To my Granny’s pig,
With a raudy, rowdy, dowdy;
Come dance a jig
To my Granny’s pig,
And pussy-cat shall crowdy.
* * * * * * * * * *
One’s none;
Two’s some;
Three’s a many;
Four’s a penny;
Five is a little hundred.
* * * * * * * * * *
Hark, hark,
The dogs do bark,
Beggars are coming to town;
Some in jags,
Some in rags,
And some in velvet gowns.
* * * * * * * * * *
Hop away, skip away, my baby wants to play,
My baby wants to play every day.
* * * * * * * * * *
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 t’other side,
And then they could not find him:
He ran fourteen miles in fifteen days,
And never looked behind him.
* * * * * * * * * *
Come, let’s to bed,
Says Sleepy-head;
Tarry awhile, says Slow:
Put on the pot,
Says Greedy-gut,
Let’s sup before we go.
* * * * * * * * * *
Three wise men of Gotham
Went to sea in a bowl:
And if the bowl had been stronger,
My song would have been longer.
* * * * * * * * * *
‘Twas the twenty-ninth of May, ’twas a holiday,
Four and twenty tailors set out to hunt a snail;
The snail put forth his horns, and roared like a bull,
Away ran the tailors, and catch the snail who wull.
* * * * * * * * * *
Jog on, jog on, the footpath way,
And merrily jump the style, boys,
A merry heart goes all the day,
Your sad one tires in a mile, boys.
* * * * * * * * * *
Hogs in the garden, catch ’em, Towser,
Cows in the corn-field, run boys, run.
Cats in the cream-pot, run girls, run girls,
Fire on the mountains, run boys, run.
* * * * * * * * * *
If I’d as much money as I could spend,
I never would cry, old chairs to mend;
Old chairs to mend, old chairs to mend;
I never would cry, old chairs to mend.
If I’d as much money as I could tell,
I never would cry, old clothes to sell;
Old clothes to sell, old clothes to sell;
I never would cry, old clothes to sell.
* * * * * * * * * *
The cat sat asleep by the side of the fire,
The mistress snored loud as a pig:
Jack took up his fiddle, by Jenny’s desire,
And struck up a bit of a jig.
* * * * * * * * * *
I would, if I could;
If I couldn’t, how could I?
I couldn’t without I could, could I?
Could you without you could, could ye?
Could ye, could ye?
You couldn’t without you could, could ye?
* * * * * * * * * *
I love that last rhyme, “I Would, If I Could.” I think it is a good way to remind children that with an “I could” or “I can” attitude, they can do many more things than with an “I couldn’t” or “I can’t” attitude.
Which one of these vintage Mother Goose rhymes is YOUR family’s favorite? I’d love to hear about it in the comment section below.
Have a great Mother Goose Day!
Many blessings,
This is so great! Mother goose are the best! I’ll have to read these to my son 🙂
I thought they were neat too. 🙂