Little Boy Blue

Traditional (Mother Goose) · 1916

Catalog grade guidance: K–5 — Short pastoral nursery rhyme.

79 content lines · 414 words · Est. recitation about 4 min 23 sec (approx.)

Public-domain text for reading and recitation practice. Source: Project Gutenberg #10607.Estimated time uses ~120 words/minute plus short pauses—not a contest rule.

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?
Under the haystack, fast asleep!


RAIN

Rain, rain, go away,
Come again another day;
Little Johnny wants to play.


THE CLOCK

There's a neat little clock,--
  In the schoolroom it stands,--
And it points to the time
  With its two little hands.

And may we, like the clock,
  Keep a face clean and bright,
With hands ever ready
  To do what is right.


WINTER

Cold and raw the north wind doth blow,
Bleak in the morning early;
All the hills are covered with snow,
And winter's now come fairly.


FINGERS AND TOES

Every lady in this land
Has twenty nails, upon each hand
Five, and twenty on hands and feet:
All this is true, without deceit.


A SEASONABLE SONG

Piping hot, smoking hot.
    What I've got
    You have not.
Hot gray pease, hot, hot, hot;
Hot gray pease, hot.


DAME TROT AND HER CAT

Dame Trot and her cat
  Led a peaceable life,
When they were not troubled
  With other folks' strife.

When Dame had her dinner
  Pussy would wait,
And was sure to receive
  A nice piece from her plate.


THREE CHILDREN ON THE ICE

Three children sliding on the ice
    Upon a summer's day,
As it fell out, they all fell in,
    The rest they ran away.

Oh, had these children been at school,
    Or sliding on dry ground,
Ten thousand pounds to one penny
    They had not then been drowned.

Ye parents who have children dear,
    And ye, too, who have none,
If you would keep them safe abroad
    Pray keep them safe at home.


CROSS PATCH

Cross patch, draw the latch,
  Sit by the fire and spin;
Take a cup and drink it up,
  Then call your neighbors in.


THE OLD WOMAN UNDER A HILL

There was an old woman
  Lived under a hill;
And if she's not gone,
  She lives there still.


TWEEDLE-DUM AND TWEEDLE-DEE

Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee
    Resolved to have a battle,
For Tweedle-dum said Tweedle-dee
    Had spoiled his nice new rattle.

Just then flew by a monstrous crow,
    As big as a tar barrel,
Which frightened both the heroes so,
    They quite forgot their quarrel.


OH, DEAR!

Dear, dear! what can the matter be?
Two old women got up in an apple-tree;
One came down, and the other stayed till Saturday.


OLD MOTHER GOOSE