Nursery Rhymes and Poems

A little old man of Derby,
How do you think he served me?
He took away my bread and cheese,
And that is how he served me.

The man in the wilderness asked of me
How many strawberries grew in the sea.
I answered him as I thought good:
As many as red herrings grow in the wood.

There was a man in our town,
And he was wondrous wise,
He jumped into a bramble bush,
And scratched out both his eyes;
But when he saw his eyes were out,
With all his might and main,
He jumped into another bush,
And scratched ‘em in again.

When poor little Hand-Glass
Was loudly berated
For casting reflections,
The Brush was elated.

Doodle doodle doo,
The Princess lost her shoe:
Her Highness hopped,–
The fiddler stopped,
Not knowing what to do.

I once had a sweet little doll, dears,
The prettiest doll in the world;
Her cheeks were so red and white, dears,
And her hair was so charmingly curled.
But I lost my poor little doll, dears,
As I played on the heath one day;
And I cried for her more than a week, dears,
But I never could find where she [...]

Here sits the Lord Mayor,
Here sits two men.
Here sits the cock,
And here sits the hen.
Here sit the little chickens,
And here they run in,
Chin-chopper, chin-chopper,
Chin-chopper, chin!

There’s a little white duck (quack)
Sitting in the water.
A little white duck (quack)
Doing what he oughter.
He took a bite of a lily pad,
Flapped his wings and he said,
“I’m glad I’m a little white duck
Sitting in the water.”
Quack, Quack, Quack.

There was a little rabbit sprig
Which, being little, was not big;
He always walked upon his feet,
And never fasted when he eat,
When from a place he ran away
He never at that place did stay.
And when he ran, as I was told,
He ne’er stood still for young or old;
Though ne’er instructed by a cat,
He knew a mouse [...]

I had a little moppet,
I put it in my pocket,
And fed it with corn and hay.
There came a proud beggar,
And swore he should have her;
And stole my little moppet away.