The Peter Patter Book of Nursery Rhymes | Page 2

rain-barrel?To give poor old Granny a scare?
It's fun to play tag with a tiger,?It's fun for the bear to say "boo,"?But if rats are found in the rain-barrel?Old Granny will put you in too.
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THE BLUE SONG
Hot mush and molasses all in a blue bowl--?Eat it, it's good for you, sonny.?'T will make you grow tall as a telephone pole--?Eat it, it's good for you, sonny.
Fresh fish and potatoes all on a blue plate--?Eat it up smart now, my sonny.?'T will make you as jolly and fat as Aunt Kate--?Eat it up quick now, my sonny.
Sweet milk from a nanny-goat in a blue cup--?Drink it, it's good for you, sonny,?'T will fill you, expand you, and help you grow up,?And make a real man of you, sonny.
HIPPITY HOP TO BED
O it's hippity hop to bed!?I'd rather sit up instead.?But when father says "must,"?There's nothing but just?Go hippity hop to bed.
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AWAY TO THE RIVER
Away to the river, away to the wood,?While the grasses are green and the berries are good!?Where the locusts are scraping their fiddles and bows,?And the bees keep a-coming wherever one goes.
Oh, it's off to the river and off to the hills,?To the land of the bloodroot and wild daffodils,?With a buttercup blossom to color my chin,?And a basket of burs to put sandberries in.
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OUR LITTLE PAT
Our little Pat?Was chasing the cat?And kicking the kittens about.?When mother said "Quit!"?He ran off to sit?On the top of the woodpile and pout;?But a sly little grin?Soon slid down his chin?And let all the sulkiness out.
THE ANIMAL SHOW
Father and mother and Bobbie will go?To see all the sights at the animal show.?Where lions and bears?Sit on dining room chairs,?Where a camel is able?To stand on a table,?Where monkeys and seals?All travel on wheels,?And a Zulu baboon?Rides a baby balloon.?The sooner you're ready, the sooner we'll go.?Aboard, all aboard, for the Animal Show!
[Illustration: THE ANIMAL SHOW]
TOMMY TRIMBLE
Billy be nimble,?Hurry and see?Old Tommy Trimble?Climbing a tree.?He claws with his fingers?And digs with his toes.?The longer he lingers?The slower he goes.
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DICKIE, DICKIE DEXTER
Dickie, Dickie Dexter?Had a wife and vexed her.?She put him in a rabbit cage?And fed him peppermint and sage--?Dickie, Dickie Dexter.
ON THE ROAD TO TATTLETOWN
On the road to Tattletown?What is this I see??A pig upon a pedestal,?A cabbage up a tree,?A rabbit cutting capers?With a twenty dollar bill--?Now if I don't get to Tattletown?Then no one ever will.
POLLY AND PETER
Polly had some china cows?And Peter had a gun.?She turned the bossies out to browse,?And Peterkin, for fun,?Just peppered them with butter beans?And blew them all to smithereens.
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Now what will pretty Polly do?For milk and cream and butter too?
I WENT TO TOWN ON MONDAY
I went to town on Monday?To buy myself a coat,?But on the way I met a man?Who traveled with a caravan,?And bought a billy-goat.
I went to town on Tuesday?And bought a fancy vest.?I kept the pretty bucklestraps,?Buttonholes and pocketflaps,?And threw away the rest.
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I went to town on Thursday?To buy a loaf of bread,?But when I got there, goodness sakes!?The town was full of rattlesnakes--?The bakers all were dead.
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I went to town on Saturday?To get myself a wife,?But when I saw the lady fair?I gnashed my teeth and pulled my hair?And scampered for my life.
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WHERE ARE YOU GOING?
Where are you going, sister Kate??I'm going to swing on the garden gate,?And watch the fairy gypsies dance?Their tim-tam-tum on the cabbage-plants--?The great big one with the purple nose,?And the tiny tad with the pinky toes.
Where are you going, brother Ben??I'm going to build a tiger-pen.?I'll get iron and steel and 'lectric wire?And build it a hundred feet, or higher,?And put ten tigers in it too,?And a big wildcat, and--mebbe--you.
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Where are you going, mother mine??I'm going to sit by the old grapevine,?And watch the gliding swallow bring?Clay for her nest from the meadow spring--?Clay and straw and a bit of thread?To weave it into a baby's bed.
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Where are you going, grandma dear??I'm going, love, where the skies are clear,?And the light winds lift the poppy flowers?And gather clouds for the summer showers,?Where the old folks and the children play?On the warm hillside through the livelong day.
CHRISTOPHER CRUMP
Christopher Crump,?All in a lump,?Sits like a toad on the top of a stump.?He stretches and sighs,?And blinks with his eyes,?Bats at the beetles and fights off the flies.
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PINKY, PINKY, PANG
A tortoise sat on a slippery limb?And played his pinky pang?For a dog-fish friend that called on him,?And this is what he sang:?"Oh, the skies are blue,?And I wait for you?To come where the willows hang,?And dance all night?By the white moonlight?To my pinky, pinky, pang!"
TICK, TOCK
Tick, tock! Tick, tock!?Forty 'leven by the clock.?Tick, tock! Tick, tock!?Put your ear to Grandpa's ticker,?Like a pancake, only thicker.?Tick, tock! Tick, tock!?Catch a squirrel in half a minute,?Grab a sack and stick him in it.?Tick, tock! Tick, tock!?Mister Bunny feeds on