Medieval
Anonymous (English nursery rhymes)
The English nursery rhymes are anonymous traditional verses of the cradle and the playground: lullabies, riddles, counting-out and game rhymes, jingles, charms and short tales in rhyme. Most were handed down by voice for generations, and the earliest of them were written down in the seventeenth century, although many are certainly older.
This archive follows The Nursery Rhymes of England, collected by James Orchard Halliwell (first edition, London, 1842), which arranges more than six hundred rhymes in eighteen classes, from the historical and the literal to games, lullabies and relics. The text is taken from the Project Gutenberg edition of the Warne printing of 1886, illustrated by W. B. Scott. Halliwell's class is given in each poem's note; his notes and the directions for games are omitted.
Poems (657)
- Old King Cole
- When good king Arthur ruled this land
- Robin Hood, Robin Hood
- One moonshiny night
- I had a little nut tree, nothing would it bear
- We make no spare
- The king of France, and four thousand men
- The king of France went up the hill
- The king of France, with twenty thousand men
- The king of France, the king of France, with forty thousand men
- At the siege of Belle-isle
- The rose is red, the grass is green
- Good Queen Bess was a glorious dame
- Ho! Master Teague, what is your story?
- Please to remember
- See saw, sack-a-day
- Over the water, and over the lee
- As I was going by Charing Cross
- High diddle ding
- High ding a ding, and ho ding a ding
- Hector Protector was dressed all in green
- Poor old Robinson Crusoe!
- What is the rhyme for poringer?
- William and Mary, George and Anne
- As I walk'd by myself
- There was a monkey climb'd up a tree
- Jim and George were two great lords
- Little General Monk
- Eighty-eight wor Kirby feight
- One, two, three
- A, B, C, tumble down D
- F for fig, J for jig
- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5!
- Great A, little a
- One's none
- A, B, C, and D
- Hickery, dickery, 6 and 7
- Apple-pie, pudding, and pancake
- Miss one, two, and three could never agree
- One, two
- Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man!
- A was an archer, and shot at a frog
- A was an apple-pie
- A for the ape, that we saw at the fair
- There once was a gentleman grand
- Simple Simon met a pieman
- Punch and Judy
- There was a crooked man, and he went a crooked mile
- Solomon Grundy
- Robin the Bobbin, the big-bellied Ben
- There was a fat man of Bombay
- My dear, do you know
- There was a man, and he had naught
- There was a little man
- Little Tommy Tittlemouse
- Little King Boggen he built a fine hall.
- The lion and the unicorn
- There was a jolly miller
- Tom, Tom, the piper's son
- In Arthur's court Tom Thumb did live
- Bryan O'Lin, and his wife, and wife's mother
- Old Mother Goose, when
- I'll tell you a story
- Three wise men of Gotham
- Robin and Richard were two pretty men
- My lady Wind, my lady Wind
- Old Abram Brown is dead and gone
- A dog and a cock
- Little Tom Tittlemouse
- Tommy kept a chandler's shop
- When I was a little girl, about seven years old
- Pemmy was a pretty girl
- Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a thief
- Little Jack Horner sat in the corner
- There was a king and he had three daughter
- The man in the moon
- Our saucy boy Dick
- Moss was a little man, and a little mare did buy
- St. Swithin's day, if thou dost rain
- To make your candles last for a'
- If wishes were horses
- Nature requires five
- Three straws on a staff
- See a pin and pick it up
- Go to bed first, a golden purse
- When the wind is in the east
- Bounce Buckram, velvet's dear
- A man of words and not of deeds
- A man of words and not of deeds (another version)
- If you sneeze on Monday, you sneeze for danger
- A pullet in the pen
- He that would thrive
- A swarm of bees in May
- They that wash on Monday
- Needles and pins, needles and pins
- Yeow mussent sing a' Sunday
- A sunshiny shower
- As the days grow longer
- As the days lengthen
- He that goes to see his wheat in May
- The mackerel's cry
- In July
- A guinea it would sink
- For every evil under the sun
- The art of good driving 's a paradox quite
- Friday night's dream
- When the sand doth feed the clay
- The fair maid who, the first of May
- A diller, a dollar
- Tell tale, tit!
- In fir tar is
- At Dover Dwells George Brown Esquire
- Birch and green holly, boys
- When V and I together meet
- Multiplication is vexation
- Thirty days hath September
- My story's ended
- Father Iohnson Nicholas Iohnson's son
- The rose is red, the grass is green (another version)
- Cross patch
- Come when you're called
- Speak when you're spoken to
- I love my love with an A, because he's Agreeable.
- If ifs and ands
- Mistress Mary, quite contrary
- Doctor Faustus was a good man
- LEGOMOTON
- When I was a little boy, I had but little wit
- Oh, where are you going
- Polly put the kettle on
- One misty moisty morning
- The fox and his wife they had a great strife
- Little Tom Dogget
- Says t'auld man tit oak tree
- You shall have an apple
- Up at Piccadilly oh!
- Sing a song of sixpence
- Lend me thy mare to ride a mile?
- About the bush, Willy
- A pretty little girl in a round-eared cap
- My father he died, but I can't tell you how
- Little Bo-peep has lost her sheep
- Jeanie come tie my
- Trip upon trenchers, and dance upon dishes
- Some up, and some down
- Johnny shall have a new bonnet
- As I was walking o'er little Moorfields
- The north wind doth blow
- The white dove sat on the castle wall
- Elsie Marley is grown so fine
- London bridge is broken down
- Old Father of the Pye
- Tom he was a piper's son
- Jacky, come give me thy fiddle
- Of all the gay birds that e'er I did see
- I love sixpence, pretty little sixpence
- Merry are the bells, and merry would they ring
- My maid Mary
- Hot-cross Buns!
- Wooley Foster has gone to sea
- Buz, quoth the blue fly
- As I was going up the hill
- There were two birds sat on a stone
- How does my lady's garden grow?
- There was a jolly miller (another version)
- As I was going along, long, long
- Where are you going, my pretty maid?
- Pancakes and fritters
- I have been to market, my lady, my lady
- My father left me three acres of land
- Three blind mice, see how they run!
- There was a frog liv'd in a well
- There was a man in our toone, in our toone, in our toone
- John Cook had a little grey mare; he, haw, hum!
- A carrion crow sat on an oak
- Hic hoc, the carrion crow
- Awa' birds, away!
- If I'd as much money as I could spend
- Whistle, daughter, whistle, whistle daughter dear
- I'll sing you a song
- Dame, get up and bake your pies
- There was a girl in our towne
- I went to the wood and got it
- Hick-a-more, Hack-a-more
- When I was taken from the fair body
- As I look'd out o' my chamber window
- I went into my grandmother's garden
- As I was going o'er London Bridge
- Made in London
- Ten and ten and twice eleven
- As soft as silk, as white as milk
- As I was going o'er Tipple Tine
- Humpty Dumpty lay in a beck
- Arthur O'Bower has broken his band
- Make three-fourths of a cross
- There was a king met a king
- Flour of England, fruit of Spain
- Every lady in this land
- Twelve pears hanging high
- I have a little sister, they call her peep, peep
- Old mother Twitchett had but one eye
- In marble walls as white as milk
- What shoe-maker makes shoes without leather
- Higgledy piggledy
- Thomas a Tattamus took two Ts
- There was a man who had no eyes
- The moon nine days old
- Little Nancy Etticoat
- Long legs, crooked thighs
- There were three sisters in a hall
- Congeal'd water and Cain's brother
- Thirty white horses upon a red hill
- Black we are, but much admired
- Higher than a house, higher than a tree
- Humpty dumpty sate on a wall
- Purple, yellow, red, and green
- Pease-porridge hot, pease-porridge cold
- As I was going o'er Westminster bridge
- Black within, and red without
- There was a man rode through our town
- As I went over Lincoln bridge
- Two legs sat upon three legs
- Formed long ago, yet made to-day
- A riddle, a riddle, as I suppose
- As round as an apple, as deep as a cup
- As I went through the garden gap
- Elizabeth, Elspeth, Betsy and Bess
- As I was going to St. Ives
- Highty, tighty, paradighty clothed in green
- See, see! what shall I see?
- As I was going o'er London Bridge (another version)
- Lives in winter
- When I went up sandy hill
- I had a little castle upon the sea-side
- Old father Graybeard
- Cushy cow bonny, let down thy milk
- If you love me, pop and fly
- I went to the toad that lies under the wall
- Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
- Come, butter, come
- When a Twister a twisting, will twist him a twist
- A Thatcher of Thatchwood went to Thatchet a thatching
- Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper
- My father he left me, just as he was able
- Robert Rowley rolled a round roll round
- Three crooked cripples went through Cripplegate, and through
- Swan swam over the sea
- Hickup, hickup, go away!
- Hickup, snicup
- There was an old woman, as I've heard tell
- There was an old woman who lived in a shoe
- Old woman, old woman, shall we go a shearing?
- There was an old woman sat spinning
- There was an old woman, her name it was Peg
- A little old man and I fell out
- There was an old woman
- Old Mother Niddity Nod swore by the pudding-bag
- There was an old woman (another version)
- There was an old woman toss'd up in a basket
- There was an old man who liv'd in Middle Row
- There was an old woman of Leeds
- Old Betty Blue
- Old mother Hubbard
- There was an old woman (another version, 3)
- There was an old woman had three sons
- There was an old man, who lived in a wood
- There was an old man of Tobago
- Oh, dear, what can the matter be?
- There was an old man
- Father Short came down the lane
- There was an old woman called Nothing-at-all
- There was an old woman of Norwich
- A little old man of Derby
- There was an old woman in Surrey
- One-ery, two-ery
- Who goes round my house this night?
- Dance, Thumbkin, dance
- One to make ready
- Gay go up and gay go down
- Buff says Buff to all his men
- Pease-pudding hot
- Awake, arise, pull out your eyes
- Twelve huntsmen with horns and hounds
- A. Draw a pail of water
- Sieve my lady's oatmeal
- Queen Anne, queen Anne, you sit in the sun
- There were three jovial Welshmen
- Is John Smith within?
- Margery Mutton-pie, and Johnny Bopeep
- Intery, mintery, cutery-corn
- A duck and a drake
- See, Saw, Margery Daw
- See, saw, Margery Daw
- I am a gold lock.
- Ride a cock-horse to Banbury-cross
- Ride a cock-horse to Banbury-cross (another version)
- Jack be nimble
- Weave the diaper tick-a-tick tick
- One-ery, two-ery, hickary, hum
- Whoop, whoop, and hollow
- Tom Brown's two little Indian boys
- There were two blackbirds
- Tip, top, tower
- I went up one pair of stairs.
- Number number nine, this hoop's mine
- Here goes my lord
- Green cheese, yellow laces
- To market ride the gentlemen
- Ride a cock-horse to Coventry-cross
- Ride a cock-horse to Banbury-cross (another version, 3)
- Let us go to the wood, says this pig
- Ring me (1), ring me (2), ring me rary (3)
- Two broken tradesmen
- Clap hands, clap hands
- This pig went to market
- Bat, bat, (clap hands,)
- Cuckoo, cherry tree
- A. Who is going round my sheepfold?
- Highty cock O!
- This is the key of the kingdom.
- Hickory (1), Dickory (2), Dock (3)
- One old Oxford ox opening oysters
- Good horses, bad horses
- See-saw, jack a daw
- How many miles is it to Babylon?
- Clap hands, clap hands!
- See-saw sacradown
- Here stands a post
- Trip Trap Over the Grass
- Suitors.
- Eggs, butter, bread
- My father was a Frenchman
- Shoe the colt, shoe!
- Here sits the Lord Mayor forehead.
- Ring the bell! giving a lock of its hair a pull.
- Thumbikin, Thumbikin, broke the barn
- This pig went to market (another version)
- Flowers, flowers, high-do!
- This pig went to the barn.
- Here comes a poor woman from baby-land
- I can make diet bread
- Here we come a piping
- The first day of Christmas
- Heetum peetum penny pie
- Trip and go, heave and hoe
- This is the way the ladies ride
- There was a man, and his name was Dob
- May my geese fly over your barn?"
- Now we dance looby, looby, looby
- Children. To Beccles! to Beccles!
- I've a glove in my hand
- Eye winker
- Thumb bold
- Fox a fox, a brummalary
- Here come I
- The dog of the kill
- My mother and your mother
- Peter White will ne'er go right
- O that I was where I would be
- Three children sliding on the ice
- There was a man of Newington
- Up stairs, down stairs, upon my lady's window
- I would if I cou'd
- If all the world was apple-pie
- Tobacco wick! tobacco wick!
- The man in the wilderness asked me
- There was an old woman, and what do you think?
- Here am I, little jumping Joan
- There was an old woman had nothing
- There was a little Guinea-pig
- I saw a peacock with a fiery tail
- My true love lives far from me
- There was a man and he was mad
- I saw a ship a-sailing
- Barney Bodkin broke his nose
- If a man who turnips cries
- Hushy baby, my doll, I pray you don't cry
- Dance, little baby, dance up high
- To market, to market
- Dance to your daddy
- Tom shall have a new bonnet
- Bye, baby bumpkin
- Hush, hush, hush, hush!
- Hush thee, my babby
- Hey, my kitten, my kitten
- I won't be my father's Jack
- Danty baby diddy
- Rock-a-bye, baby, thy cradle is green
- Bye, O my baby!
- Hush-a-bye, a ba lamb
- Hush-a-bye, baby, on the tree top
- Ride, baby, ride
- Bye, baby bunting
- Give me a blow, and I'll beat 'em
- My dear cockadoodle, my jewel, my joy
- Hush-a-bye, lie still and sleep
- Young Lambs to sell!
- Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit-Pie!
- To market, to market (another version)
- Rock well my cradle
- Where was a sugar and fretty?
- I'll buy you a tartan bonnet
- Ding dong bell
- Hey ding a ding, what shall I sing?
- Cock a doodle doo!
- Diddledy, diddledy, dumpty
- Little Tee Wee
- Sing, sing, what shall I sing?
- Handy Spandy, Jack-a-dandy
- Tiddle liddle lightum
- Sing jigmijole, the pudding-bowl
- Deedle, deedle, dumpling, my son John
- Dibbity, dibbity, dibbity, doe.
- Feedum, fiddledum fee
- Little Jack a Dandy
- Hyder iddle diddle dell
- Gilly Silly Jarter
- Hub a dub dub
- Hey diddle, dinketty, poppety, pet
- Fiddle-de-dee, fiddle-de-dee
- Hey, dorolot, dorolot!
- A cat came fiddling out of a barn
- Hey! diddle, diddle
- Doodledy, doodledy, doodledy, dan
- Tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee
- Come dance a jig
- Pussicat, wussicat, with a white foot
- Ding, dong, darrow
- Little Dicky Dilver
- To market, to market, to buy a fat pig
- Doodle, doodle, doo
- Rompty-iddity, row, row, row
- Round about, round about
- High, ding, cockatoo-moody
- Hey! diddle, diddle (another version)
- As I was going up Pippen-hill
- Brave news is come to town
- Willy, Willy Wilkin
- It's once I courted as pretty a lass
- Sylvia, sweet as morning air
- What care I how black I be
- Where have you been all the day
- There was a little man (another version)
- There was a little boy and a little girl
- A cow and a calf
- O the little rusty, dusty, rusty miller!
- As Tommy Snooks and Bessy Brooks
- Little Jack Jingle
- When shall we be married
- Tommy Trot, a man of law
- We're all dry with drinking on't.
- John, come sell thy fiddle
- Up hill and down dale
- Jack in the pulpit, out and in
- Did you see my wife, did you see, did you see
- Rosemary green
- Little maid, pretty maid, whither goest thou?"
- I am a pretty wench
- Birds of a feather flock together
- Hemp-seed I set
- Jack Sprat could eat no fat
- Little Jack Dandy-prat was my first suitor
- Oh, madam, I will give you the keys of Canterbury
- He. If you with me will go, my love
- On Saturday night
- Master I have, and I am his man
- I doubt, I doubt my fire is out
- Young Roger came tapping at Dolly's window
- Thomas and Annis met in the dark.
- Saw ye aught of my love a coming from ye market!
- I had a little husband
- Can you make me a cambric shirt
- Where have you been to-day, Billy, my son?
- I married my wife by the light of the moon
- There was a little maid, and she was afraid
- Madam, I am come to court you
- Up street, and down street
- Oh! mother, I shall be married to Mr. Punchinello.
- Little John Jiggy Jag
- Bonny lass, canny lass, willta be mine?
- Bessy Bell and Mary Gray
- Jack and Jill went up the hill
- Little Tom Dandy
- There was a little pretty lad
- Rowley Powley, pudding and pie
- Margaret wrote a letter
- Love your own, kiss your own.
- Here comes a lusty wooer
- O rare Harry Parry
- Blue eye beauty
- Curly locks! curly locks! wilt thou be mine?
- The cuckoo's a fine bird
- The cuckoo's a vine bird
- I had a little dog, and his name was Blue Bell
- The cat sat asleep by the side of the fire
- I had a little hobby-horse, and it was well shod
- Pit, Pat, well-a-day
- Little Poll Parrot
- Snail, snail, come out of your hole
- Sneel, snaul
- Burnie bee, burnie bee
- Some little mice sat in a barn to spin
- The sow came in with the saddle
- What do they call you?"
- As I went over the water
- Four and twenty tailors went to kill a snail
- Twas the twenty-ninth of May, 'twas a holiday
- Croak! said the Toad, I'm hungry, I think
- Gray goose and gander
- Pussy-cat, pussy-cat, where have you been?
- I had a little dog, and they called him Buff
- All of a row
- The cock doth crow
- There was an owl lived in an oak
- When the snow is on the ground
- A pie sate on a pear-tree
- There was an old crow
- Cuckoo, Cuckoo
- Robert Barnes, fellow fine
- Catch him, crow! carry him, kite!
- Dickery, dickery, dare
- Hickety, pickety, my black hen
- Pussy sat by the fire-side
- Little Robin Red-breast
- Little Robin Red-breast (another version)
- Johnny Armstrong kill'd a calf
- Hie hie, says Anthony
- A long-tail'd pig, or a short-tail'd pig
- Once I saw a little bird
- Lady-cow, lady-cow, fly thy way home
- Riddle me, riddle me, ree
- Eat, Birds, eat, and make no waste
- Pussy cat Mole
- As I went to Bonner
- There was a little one-eyed gunner
- There was a piper, he'd a cow
- As titty mouse sat in the witty to spin
- Shoe the colt
- Betty Pringle had a little pig
- Cock Robin got up early
- I had two pigeons bright and gay
- Jack Sprat's pig
- Barnaby Bright he was a sharp cur
- Pussy cat eat the dumplings, the dumplings
- The robin and the wren
- Little Bob Robin
- The winds they did blow
- I had a little cow, to save her
- In the month of February
- Pussy sits behind the fire
- The dove says coo, coo, what shall I do?
- Bow, wow, wow
- Pitty Patty Polt
- How d' 'e dogs, how? whose dog art thou
- Bobbin-a-Bobbin bent his bow
- A little cock sparrow sat on a green tree, (tris)
- Snail, snail, put out your horns
- Dame, what makes your ducks to die?
- Lady bird, lady bird, fly away home
- Little Robin Redbreast sat upon a tree
- There was a little boy went into a barn
- Snail, snail, shut out your horns
- I had a little hen, the prettiest ever seen
- Pussey cat sits by the fire
- Cock-a-doodle-do
- Higglepy Piggleby
- Pretty John Watts
- Jack Sprat
- On Christmas eve I turn'd the spit
- See, saw, Margery Daw (another version)
- Hurly, burly, trumpet trase
- There was an old woman had three cows
- I'll away yhame
- Curr dhoo, curr dhoo
- I like little pussy, her coat is so warm
- Little cock robin peep'd out of his cabin
- The pettitoes are little feet
- Charley Warley had a cow.
- I had a little cow
- The Cock. Lock the dairy door
- I had a little pony
- Bah, bah, black sheep
- Hussy, hussy, where's your horse?
- Leg over leg
- Rowsty dowt, my fire's all out
- Little boy blue, come blow up your horn
- Goosey, goosey, gander
- Goosy, goosy, gander
- I sell you the key of the king's garden
- John Ball shot them all
- This is the house that Jack built.
- A kid, a kid, my father bought
- There was a little nobby colt
- King's Sutton is a pretty town
- The little priest of Felton
- The tailor of Bicester
- Dick and Tom, Will and John
- At Brill on the Hill
- A man went a hunting at Reigate
- Driddlety drum, driddlety drum
- Little boy, pretty boy, where was you born?
- I lost my mare in Lincoln lane
- Cripple Dick upon a stick
- Little lad, little lad, where wast thou born?
- The girl in the lane, that couldn't speak plain
- Hink, minx! the old witch winks
- Baby and I
- What are little boys made of, made of
- If a body meet a body
- Charley wag
- Girls and boys, come out to play
- Hannah Bantry in the pantry
- Rain, rain, go away
- Little girl, little girl, where have you been?
- Hark, hark
- We're all in the dumps
- What's the news of the day
- Little Mary Ester
- Shake a leg, wag a leg, when will you gang?
- Willy boy, Willy boy, where are you going?
- To market, to market, a gallop, a trot
- Come, let's to bed
- How many days has my baby to play?
- Daffy-down-dilly has come up to town
- Little Tom Tucker
- I can weave diaper thick, thick, thick
- The man in the moon drinks claret
- Darby and Joan were dress'd in black
- Barber, barber, shave a pig
- If all the seas were one sea
- I had a little moppet
- The barber shaved the mason
- Little Tommy Tacket
- Peg, peg, with a wooden leg
- Parson Darby wore a black gown
- When Jacky's a very good boy
- Blow, wind, blow! and go, mill, go!
- The quaker's wife got up to bake
- Wash, hands, wash
- My little old man and I fell out
- Who comes here?
- Go to bed, Tom!
- As I went over the water (another version)
- High diddle doubt, my candle out
- Around the green gravel the grass grows green
- As I was going to sell my eggs
- Old Sir Simon the king
- A good child, a good child
- Jacky, come give me thy fiddle (another version)
- Blenky my nutty-cock
- To market, to market, to buy a plum-cake
- St. Thomas's-day is past and gone
- How do you do, neighbour?
- Bobby Shaftoe's gone to sea
- Little Miss Muffet
- Peter, Peter, pumpkin-eater
- Little Polly Flinders
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