Nursery rhymes, English; Oral tradition -- England
Oh, my little twopence, my pretty little twopence,
I love twopence better than my life;
I spent a penny of it, I spent another,
And I took nothing home to my wife.
Oh, my little nothing, my pretty little nothing,
What will nothing buy for my wife?
I have nothing, I spend nothing,
I love nothing better than my wife.
CLVIII.
Merry are the bells, and merry would they ring,
Merry was myself, and merry could I sing;
With a merry ding-dong, happy, gay, and free,
And a merry sing-song, happy let us be!
Waddle goes your gait, and hollow are your hose,
Noddle goes your pate, and purple is your nose;
Merry is your sing-song, happy, gay, and free,
With a merry ding-dong, happy let us be!
Merry have we met, and merry have we been,
Merry let us part, and merry meet again;
With our merry sing-song, happy, gay, and free,
And a merry ding-dong, happy let us be!
CLIX.
My maid Mary
She minds her dairy,
While I go a hoing and mowing each morn,
Merrily run the reel
And the little spinning wheel
Whilst I am singing and mowing my corn.
CLX.
Hot-cross Buns!
Hot-cross Buns!
One a penny, two a penny
Hot-cross Buns!
Hot-cross Buns!
Hot-cross Buns!
If ye have no daughters,
Give them to your sons.
CLXI.
Wooley Foster has gone to sea,
With silver buckles at his knee,
When he comes back he'll marry me,--
Bonny Wooley Foster!
Wooley Foster has a cow,
Black and white about the mow,
Open the gates and let her through,
Wooley Foster's ain cow!
Wooley Foster has a hen,
Cockle button, cockle ben,
She lay eggs for gentlemen,
But none for Wooley Foster!
CLXII.
[The following catch is found in Ben Jonson's 'Masque of
Oberon,' and is a most common nursery song at the present
day.]
Buz, quoth the blue fly,
Hum, quoth the bee,
Buz and hum they cry,
And so do we:
In his ear, in his nose,
Thus, do you see?
He ate the dormouse,
Else it was he.
CLXIII.
As I was going up the hill,
I met with Jack the piper,
And all the tunes that he could play
Was "Tie up your petticoats tighter."
I tied them once, I tied them twice,
I tied them three times over;
And all the songs that he could sing
Was "Carry me safe to Dover."
CLXIV.
There were two birds sat on a stone,
Fa, la, la, la, lal, de;
One flew away, and then there was one,
Fa, la, la, la, lal, de;
The other flew after, and then there was none,
Fa, la, la, la, lal, de;
And so the poor stone was left all alone,
Fa, la, la, la, lal, de!
CLXV.
How does my lady's garden grow?
How does my lady's garden grow?
With cockle shells, and silver bells,
And pretty maids all of a row.
CLXVI.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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