The Peter Patter Book of Nursery Rhymes | Page 4

BEETLE ON A BROOMSTRAW
A robin and a wren, as they walked along one night,
Saw a big brown
beetle on a broomstraw.
Said the robin to the wren: "What a pretty,
pretty sight-- That big brown beetle on a broomstraw!"
So they got
their plates and knives,
Their children and their wives,
And gobbled
up the beetle on the broomstraw.

MULE THOUGHTS
A silly little mule
Sat on a milking stool
And tried to write a letter
to his father.
But he couldn't find the ink,
So he said: "I rather think

This writing letters home is too much bother."
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
A CANDLE, A CANDLE
A candle, a candle
To light me to bed;
A pillow, a pillow
To tuck
up my head.
The moon is as sleepy as sleepy can be,
The stars are
all pointing their fingers at me,
And Missus Hop-Robin, way up in
her nest,
Is rocking her tired little babies to rest.
So give me a
blanket
To tuck up my toes,
And a little soft pillow
To snuggle
my nose.
[Illustration]
BAXTER
Baxter had a billy-goat
Wall-eyed and double jointed.
He took him
to the barber shop
And had his head anointed.
LODDY, GIN, AND ELLA ZANDER
Loddy, Gin, and Ella Zander
Rode to market on a gander;
Bought a
crane for half a dollar;
Loddy led him by the collar.
Mister Crane said: "Hi there, master,
Can't you make your legs work
faster?
We can't poke along this way."
Then he slowly flew away.

Loddy held him fast, you bet,
And he hasn't come home yet.
AS I WAS GOING DOWN THE HILL

As I was going down the hill
In front of Missus Knapp's
I saw the
little Knapperines
All in their winter wraps--
Purple mitts and
mufflers
And knitted jersey caps.
As I was coming back again
In front of Missus Knapp's
I saw that
awful lady
Give about a dozen slaps
To every little Knapperine--

I thought it was, perhaps,
Because they gathered stickers
In their
knitted jersey caps.
[Illustration: GOING DOWN THE HILL IN FRONT OF MRS.
KNAPP'S]
[Illustration]
A LITTLE BOY RAN TO THE END OF THE SKY
A little boy ran to the end of the sky
With a rag and a pole and a
gooseberry pie.
He cried: "Three cheers for the Fourth of July!"

With a rag and a pole and a gooseberry pie.
He saw three little donkeys at play,
He tickled their noses to make
them bray,
And he didn't come back until Christmas Day--
With a
rag and a pole and a gooseberry pie.
DISCRETION
A man with a nickel,
A sword, and a sickle,
A pipe, and a paper of
pins
Set out for the Niger
To capture a tiger--
And that's how my
story begins.
When he saw the wide ocean,
He soon took a notion
'T would be
nicer to stay with his friends.
So he traded his hat
For a
tortoise-shell cat--
And that's how the chronicle ends.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]

A BEETLE ONCE SAT ON A BARBERRY TWIG
A beetle once sat on a barberry twig,
And turned at the crank of a
thingum-a-jig.
Needles for hornets, nippers for ants,
For the
bumblebee baby a new pair of pants,
For the grizzled old gopher a hat
and a wig,
The beetle ground out of his thingum-a-jig.
[Illustration]
THE THIEVES
Tibbitts and Bibbitts and Solomon Sly
Ran off one day with a
cucumber pie.
Tibbitts was tossed by a Kensington cow,
Bibbitts
was hanged on a brambleweed bough,
And poor little Solomon--what
do you think?
Was drowned one dark night in a bottle of ink.
UPON THE IRISH SEA
Some one told Maria Ann,
Maria Ann told me,
That kittens ride in
coffee cans
Upon the Irish Sea.
From quiet caves to rolling waves,
How jolly it must be
To travel in
a coffee can
Upon the Irish Sea!
But when it snows and when it blows,
How would you like to be
A
kitten in a coffee can
Upon the Irish Sea?
DUCKLE, DAISY
Duckle, duckle, daisy,
Martha must be crazy,
She went and made a
Christmas cake
Of olive oil and gluten-flake,
And set it in the sink
to bake,
Duckle, duckle, daisy.
[Illustration: DUCKLE, DUCKLE, DAISY]
[Illustration]

I'VE GOT A NEW BOOK
I've got a new book from my Grandfather Hyde.
It's skin on the cover
and paper inside,
And reads about Arabs and horses and slaves,

And tells how the Caliph of Bagdad behaves.
I'd not take a goat and a
dollar beside
For the book that I got from my Grandfather Hyde.
THE CARROT AND THE RABBIT
A carrot in a garden
And a rabbit in the wood.
Said the rabbit, "Beg
your pardon,
But you're surely meant for food;
Though you've
started in to harden,
You may still be very good."
HIPPY-HI-HOPPY
Hippy-Hi-Hoppy, the big fat toad,
Greeted his friends at a turn of the
road.
Said he to the snail:
"Here's a ring for your tail
If you'll go into
town for my afternoon mail."
Said he to the rat:
"I have talked with the cat;
And she'll nab you so
quick you won't know where you're at."
Said he to the lizard:
"I'm really no wizard,
But I'll show you a trick
that will tickle your gizzard."
Said he to the lark:
"When it gets fairly dark
We'll chase the
mosquitoes in Peek-a-Boo Park."
Said he