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Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

Traditional (Mother Goose) · 1916

Catalog grade guidance: K–5 — Garden rhyme.

199 content lines · 853 words · Est. recitation about 8 min 25 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.

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary
Bessy Bell and Mary Gray
Needles and Pins
Pussy-Cat and the Dumplings
Dance, Thumbkin, Dance
Mary's Canary
The Little Bird
Birds of a Feather
The Dusty Miller
A Star
The Greedy Man
The Ten O'Clock Scholar
Cock-a-Doodle-Do
An Icicle
A Ship's Nail
The Old Woman of Leeds
The Boy in the Barn
Sunshine
Willy, Willy
Tongs
Jack Jingle
The Quarrel
The Pumpkin-Eater
Shoeing
Betty Blue
That's All
Bedtime
Dance, Little Baby
My Little Maid
For Want of a Nail
Pease Porridge
Ring a Ring o' Roses
The Crooked Sixpence
This Is the Way
Ducks and Drakes
The Donkey
If
The Bells
Little Girl and Queen
The King of France
Peter Piper
One to Ten
An Equal
The Tarts
Come, Let's to Bed
Little Maid
What Are Little Boys Made Of?
Bandy Legs
The Girl and the Birds
A Pig
Jenny Wren
Little Tom Tucker
Where Are You Going, My Pretty
Maid?
The Old Woman of Gloucester
Multiplication Is Vexation
Little King Boggen
Whistle
Bell Horses
Taffy
The Robin
The Old Woman of Harrow
Young Roger and Dolly
The Piper and His Cow
The Man of Derby
The Coachman
There was an Old Woman
A Thorn
The Old Woman of Surrey
The Little Mouse
Boy and Girl
When
Sing, Sing
London Bridge
March Winds
The Balloon
A Cherry
The Lost Shoe
Hot Codlins
Swan
Three Straws
The Man of Tobago
Ding, Dong, Bell
A Sunshiny Shower
The Farmer and the Raven
Christmas
Willy Boy
Polly and Sukey
The Death and Burial of Poor Cock Robin
The Mouse and the Clock
Hot-Cross Buns
Bobby Shaftoe
The Bunch of Blue Ribbons
The Woman of Exeter
Sneezing
Pussy-Cat by the Fire
When the Snow Is on the Ground


AN ALPHABETICAL LIST OF
FIRST LINES

A, B, C, and D
About the bush, Willie
A carrion crow sat on an oak
A diller, a dollar, a ten o'clock scholar!
A duck and a drake
A farmer went trotting, upon his gray mare
A hill full, a hole full
A little boy went into a barn
A little cock-sparrow sat on a green tree
A little old man of Derby
A man went a-hunting at Reigate
A riddle, a riddle, as I suppose
A robin and a robin's son
Around the green gravel the grass grows green
As I walked by myself
As I was going along, along
As I was going to Derby all on a market-day
As I was going to St. Ives
As I was going to sell my eggs
As I was going up Pippen Hill
As I went through the garden gap
As I went to Bonner
As little Jenny Wren
As round as an apple, as deep as a cup
As soft as silk, as white as milk
As the days grow longer
As Tommy Snooks and Bessy Brooks
A sunshiny shower
A swarm of bees in May
At the siege of Belleisle
Away, birds, away!

Baa, baa, black sheep
Barber, barber, shave a pig
Bat, bat
Bell horses, bell horses, what time of day?
Bessy Bell and Mary Gray
"Billy, Billy, come and play"
Birds of a feather flock together
Black within and red without
Bobby Shaftoe's gone to sea
Bow-wow-wow!
Burnie bee, burnie bee
Buttons, a farthing a pair!
Bye, baby bunting

Christmas comes but once a year
Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat
Clap, clap handies
Cock-a-doodle-do!
"Cock, cock, cock, cock"
Cocks crow in the morn
Cold and raw the north wind doth blow
Come when you're called
Cross patch, draw the latch
Cry, baby, cry
Curly-locks, Curly-locks, wilt thou be mine?
Cushy cow, bonny, let down thy milk

Daffy-down-dilly has come to town
Dame Trot and her cat
Dance, little Baby, dance up high!
Dance, Thumbkin, dance
Dance to your daddie
Dear, dear! what can the matter be?
Dickory, dickory, dare
Diddle diddle dumpling, my son John
Ding, dong, bell
Doctor Foster went to Glo'ster
Donkey, donkey, old and gray
Doodle doodle doo

Elizabeth, Elspeth, Betsy, and Bess
Every lady in this land

Flour of England, fruit of Spain
For every evil under the sun
For want of a nail, the shoe was lost
Four and Twenty tailors
Friday nights dream, on Saturday told

Georgy Porgy, pudding and pie
Girls and boys, come out to play
Goosey, goosey, gander
Great A, little a
Great A, little a

Handy Pandy, Jack-a-dandy
Hark, hark! the dogs do bark!
Hector Protector was dressed all in green
Here am I, little jumping Joan
Here goes my lord
Here sits the Lord Mayor
Here's Sulky Sue
Here we go round the mulberry bush
Hey, diddle, diddle!
Hey diddle dinkety poppety pet
Hey, my kitten, my kitten
Hick-a-more, Hack-a-more
Hickery, dickery, 6 and 7
Hickety, pickety, my black hen
Hickory, dickory, dock!
High diddle doubt, my candle's out
Higher than a house, higher than a tree
Hot-cross Buns!
How many days has my baby to play?
How many miles is it to Babylon?