I.

Old Mother Goose,

When she wanted to wander

Would ride through the air

On a very fine gander.

Mother Goose had a house,

'Twas built in a wood,

Where an owl at the door

For sentinel stood.

She had a son Jack,

A smart-looking lad—

He was not very good,

Nor yet very bad.

She once sent him to market,

A live goose he bought.

"Here mother," said he,

"It will not go for naught."

Jack's goose and her gander

Grew very fond,

They'd both eat together,

Or swim in one pond.

Jack found one morning,

As I have been told,

His goose had laid him

An egg of pure gold.

Jack rode to his mother,

The news for to tell;

She called him a good boy.

And said it was well.

Jack sold his gold egg

To a rascally knave—

Not half of its value

To poor Jack he gave.

Then Jack went a-courting

A lady so gay,

As fair as a lily

And sweet as the May.

The knave and the squire

Came close at his back,

And began to belabor

The sides of poor Jack.

And then the gold egg

Was thrown in the sea,

But Jack jumped in

And got it back presently.

The knave got the goose,

Which he vowed he'd kill,

Resolving at once

His pockets to fill.

Jack's mother came in

And caught the goose soon,

And mounting its back,

Flew up to the moon.

II.

Old King Cole

Was a merry old soul,

And a merry old soul was he!

And he called for his pipe

And he called for his bowl

And he called for his fiddlers three.

And every fiddler he had a fine fiddle,

And a very fine fiddle had he!

"Tweedle dee, tweedle dee," said the fiddlers,

"Oh there's none so rare as can compare

With King Cole and his fiddlers three."

III.

There was a crooked man and

he went a crooked mile,

And 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.

IV.

Little Tee Wee,

He went to sea

In an open boat;

And while afloat

The little boat bended—

My story's ended.

V.

Peter, Peter, pumpkin-eater,

Had a wife and couldn't keep her;

He put her in a pumpkin shell

And there he kept her very well.

Peter, Peter, pumpkin-eater,

Had another and didn't love her;

Peter learned to read and spell,

And then he loved her very well.

VI.

Little Tommy Tittlemouse

Lived in a little house;

He caught fishes

In other men's ditches.

VII.

Bobby Shaftoe's gone to sea,

Silver buckles on his knee;

He'll come back and marry me,

Pretty Bobby Shaftoe.

Bobby Shaftoe's fat and fair,

Combing down his yellow hair,

He's my love for evermore,

Pretty Bobby Shaftoe.

VIII.

Peg, Peg, with a wooden leg—

Her father was a miller;

He tossed a dumpling at her head,

And said he would not kill her.

IX.

Little Nancy Etticote,

In a white petticoat,

With a red nose;

The longer she stands

The shorter she grows.

X.

Three wise men of Gotham

Went to sea in a bowl;

If the bowl had been stronger

My song had been longer.

XI.

As I was going up Primrose Hill,

Primrose Hill was dirty;

There I met a pretty Miss,

And she dropped me a courtesy.

XII.

Polly, put the kettle on,

Molly, call the muffin man,

Sally, blow the bellows strong,

And we'll all have tea.

XIII.

Mary, Mary, quite contrary,

How does your garden grow?

Silver bells and cockle shells,

And pretty maids all in a row.

XIV.

Jack be nimble,

Jack be quick,

And Jack jumped over the candlestick.

XV.

Little Robin Red-breast

Sat upon a rail;

Needle naddle went his head,

Wiggle waggle went his tail.

XVI.

Bow-wow-wow,

Whose dog art thou?

Little Tom Tucker's dog

Bow-wow-wow.

XVII.

Little Polly Flinders sat 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.

XVIII.

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.

XIX.

Jack Sprat's pig,

He was not very little,

Nor yet very big;

He was not very lean,

He was not very fat—

"He'll do well for a grunt,"

Says little Jack Sprat.

XX.

Old Mother Twitchett had but one eye,

And a long tail, which she let fly;

And every time she went over a gap

She left a bit of her tail in a trap.

XXI.

Doctor Foster went to Gloster

In a shower of rain;

He stepped in a puddle up to the middle

And never went there again.

XXII.

See-saw, Margery Daw,

Jenny shall have a new master;

She shall have but a penny a day

Because she can't work any faster.

XXIII.

Little Tommy Tucker sings for his supper.

What shall he eat? White bread and butter.

How shall he cut it without any knife?

How will he marry without any wife?

XXIV.

Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn;

The sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn,

Where's the little boy that looks after the sheep?

He is under the haystack fast asleep.

Will you wake him? No, not I!

For if I do he'll be sure to cry.

XXV.

Elizabeth, Elizabeth, Elspeth, Betsy, and Bess,

They all went together to seek a bird's nest.

They found a bird's nest with four eggs in,

They all took one and left none in.

XXVI.

There was an old woman lived under the hill,

And if she's not gone she lives there still.

Baked apples she sold and cranberry pies,

And she's the old woman that never told lies.

XXVII.

A diller, a dollar,

A ten o'clock scholar,

What makes you come so soon?

You used to come at ten o'clock,

But now you come at noon.

XXVIII.

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper,

A peck of pickled pepper Peter Piper picked.

If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper,

Where is the peck of pickled pepper Peter Piper picked?

XXIX.

Old father Graybeard,

Without tooth or tongue,

If you'll give me your finger,

I'll give you my thumb.

XXX.

Little Miss Muffet

Sat on a tuffet,

Eating of curds and whey;

There came a great spider

Who sat down beside her,

And frightened Miss Muffet away.

XXXI.

Little Jack Horner sat in a corner,

Eating a Christmas pie.

He put in his thumb and took out a plum

And said, "What a good boy am I!"

XXXII.

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.

Up Jack got and home did trot,

As fast as he could caper;

Dame Jill had the job to plaster his knob

With vinegar and brown paper.

XXXIII.

Jack Sprat could eat no fat,

His wife could eat no lean,

And so between them both, you see,

They licked the platter clean.

XXXIV.

Pease porridge hot,

Pease porridge cold,

Pease porridge in the pot

Nine days old.

Some like it hot,

Some like it cold,

Some like it in the pot

Nine days old.

XXXV.

There was an old woman went up in a basket,

Ninety times as high as the moon;

And where she was going I couldn't but ask her,

For in her hand she carried a broom.

"Old woman, old woman, old woman," quoth I,

"Whither, O whither, O whither so high?"

"To sweep the cobwebs off the sky!"

"Shall I go with you?" "Aye, by and by."

XXXVI.

Simple Simon met a pieman

Going to the fair,

Says Simple Simon to the pie-man,

"Let me taste your ware."

Says the pieman to Simple Simon,

"Show me first your penny;"

Says Simple Simon to the pie-man,

"Indeed I have not any."

Simple Simon went a-fishing,

To try and catch a whale;

All the water he had with him

Was in his mother's pail.

Simple Simon went to look

If plums grew on a thistle;

He pricked his fingers very much

Which made poor Simon whistle.

Then Simple Simon went a-hunting,

To try and catch a hare;

He rode a goat about the street,

But could not find one there.

He went for water in a sieve,

But soon it all run through;

And now poor Simple Simon

Bids you all adieu!

XXXVII.

Daffy-down-dilly has come up to town,

In a fine petticoat and a green gown.

XXXVIII.

Tom, Tom, the piper's son,

Stole a pig and away he ran;

The pig was eaten

And Tom was beaten,

And Tom ran crying down the street.

XXXIX.

Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been?

I've been to London to visit the queen.

Pussy cat, pussy cat, what did you there?

I frightened a little mouse under her chair.

XL.

The north wind doth blow,

And we shall have snow,

And what will poor Robin do then?

Poor thing!

He will hop to a barn,

And to keep himself warm

Will hide his head under his wing,

Poor thing!

XLI.

Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep

And cannot tell where to find them;

Leave them alone and they will come home,

And bring their tails behind them.

Little Bo-Peep fell fast asleep,

And dreamt she heard them bleating;

When she awoke she found it a joke,

For still they all were fleeting.

Then up she took her little crook,

Determined she would find them.

She found them, indeed, but it made her heart bleed,

For they left their tails behind them.

It happened one day, as Bo-Peep did stray

Into a meadow close by,

She found their tails side by side,

All hung on a tree to dry.

She heaved a sigh and wiped her eye,

Then over the hillocks she raced,

And tried what she could as a shepherd should,

That each tail should be rightly placed.

XLII.

There was an old woman as I've heard tell,

And she went to market her eggs to sell.

She went to market all on a market day

And she fell asleep on the king's highway.

There came by a peddler, whose name was Stout,

He cut off her petticoats all round about.

He cut off her petticoats up to the knees,

'Which made the old woman shiver and freeze.

When the old woman first did awake,

She began to shiver and she began to shake;

She began to wonder and she began to cry,

"Mercy, mercy on me, this is not I!

"But if it be I, as I hope it be,

I have a little dog at home, and he'll know me.

If it be I, he'll wag his little tail,

And if it be not I, he'll bark and wail."

Home went the little woman all in the dark,

Up jumped the little dog and he began to bark.

He began to bark and she began to cry,

"Mercy, mercy on me, this is not I!"

XLIII.

Little Tommy Grace had a pain in his face,

So bad he couldn't learn a letter.

Then in came Dicky Long

Singing such a funny song,

And Tommy laughed

And found his face much better.