Living

The Bald Old Woman

by Anonymous Chinese nursery rhymes traditional (collected in Peking, 1890s)

Translated by Isaac Taylor Headland (1900) · From Chinese Mother Goose Rhymes (1900)

Living

On the top of the mount,
By the road, on a stone--
Or a big pile of bricks--
Sat a bald-headed crone.

On her head were three hairs,
Which you'll reckon were thin,
In which she was trying
To wear a jade pin.

She put it in once,
But once it fell out;
She put it in twice,
But twice it fell out.

But the old woman said,
"I know what I'm about,
I'll not put it in
And it cannot fall out."

MLA

Anonymous Chinese nursery rhymes. “The Bald Old Woman.” Translated by Isaac Taylor Headland. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-chinese-nursery/67/.

Chicago

Anonymous Chinese nursery rhymes. “The Bald Old Woman.” Translated by Isaac Taylor Headland. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-chinese-nursery/67/.

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