Mythology & Folklore
Twelve huntsmen with horns and hounds
From The Nursery Rhymes of England, collected by J. O. Halliwell (London: Warne; first ed. 1842; this printing 1886)
Twelve huntsmen with horns and hounds,
Hunting over other men's grounds!
Eleven ships sailing o'er the main,
Some bound for France and some for Spain:
I wish them all safe home again:
Ten comets in the sky,
Some low and some high;
Nine peacocks in the air,
I wonder how they all came there,
I do not know and I do not care;
Eight joiners in joiner's hall,
Working with the tools and all;
Seven lobsters in a dish,
As fresh as any heart could wish;
Six beetles against the wall,
Close by an old woman's apple stall;
Five puppies of our dog Ball,
Who daily for their breakfast call;
Four horses stuck in a bog,
Three monkeys tied to a clog;
Two pudding-ends would choke a dog.
With a gaping, wide-mouthed, waddling frog.
Codex Note
Halliwell's class: Games. [This game begins thus: Take this--What's this?--A gaping, wide-mouthed, waddling frog, &c.]
Cite this poem
MLA
Anonymous (English nursery rhymes). “Twelve huntsmen with horns and hounds.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-english-nursery-rhymes/282/.
Chicago
Anonymous (English nursery rhymes). “Twelve huntsmen with horns and hounds.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-english-nursery-rhymes/282/.
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