Mother Goose
Old Mother Goose, when
She wanted to wander,
Would ride through the air
On a very fine gander.
Mother Goose had a house,
'Twas built of wood,
Where an owl at the door
For sentinel stood.
She had a son Jack,
A plain-looking lad,
He was not very good,
Nor yet very bad.
She sent him to market;
A live goose he bought;
Here, mother, says he,
It will not go for nought.
Jack's goose and her gander
They grew very fond;
They'd both eat together,
Or swim in one pond.
Jack found one morning,
As I have been told,
His goose had laid him
An egg of pure gold.
Jack rode to his mother,
The news for to tell,
She call'd him a good boy,
And said it was well.
Hack sold his gold egg
To a rogue of a Jew,
Who cheated him out of
The half of his due.
Then Jack went a-courting
A lady so gay,
As fair as the lily,
And sweet as the May.
The Jew and the Squire
Came behind his back,
And began to belabour
The sides of poor Jack.
Then old Mother Goose
That instant came in,
And turned her son Jack
Into fam'd Harlequin.
She then with her wand
Touch'd the lady so fine,
And turn'd her at once
Into sweet Columbine.
The gold egg in the sea
Was quickly thrown, when
Jack gave a quick dive,
And soon got it again.
The Jew got the goose,
Which he vow'd he would kill,
Resolving at once
His pockets to fill.
Jack's mother came in,
And caught the goose soon,
And mounting its back,
Flew up to the moon.
Old Woman under a Hill
There was an old woman lived under a hill,
Put a mouse in a bag, and sent it to mill;
The Miller declar'd by the point of his knife,
He ne'er saw such a big mouse in his life.
Old Woman under a Hill
There was an old woman lived under a hill;
And if she's not gone, she lives there still.
Old Woman and Three Sons
There was an old woman had three sons;
Jerry, and James, and John.
Jerry was hung, James was drowned;
John was lost, and never was found;
And there was an end of the three sons,
Jerry, and James, and John.
Old Woman who Lived in a Shell
A little old woman, as I've heard tell,
Lived near the sea, in a nice little shell;
She was well off, if she wanted her tea—
She'd plenty of water from out of the sea.
Then if for her dinner she had the least wish,
Of course she had nothing to do but to fish;
So, really, this little old woman did well,
As she didn't pay any rent for the use of the shell.
Old Woman Swallowed
There was an old woman called Nothing-at-all,
Who rejoiced in a dwelling exceedingly small;
A man stretched his mouth to its utmost extent,
And down at one gulp house and old woman went.
Old Woman's Calf
There was an old woman sat spinning,
And that's the first beginning;
She had a calf, and that's half;
She took it by the tail,
And threw it over the wall, and that's all.
Old Woman Drowned
There was an old woman, her name it was Peg;
Her head was of wood, and she wore a cork-leg.
The neighbours all pitched her into the water,
Her leg was drown'd first, and her head followed a'ter.
Old Woman of Stepney
At Stepney there lived,
As every one knows,
An old woman who had
A plum tree on her nose!
The boys, while she slept,
Would cautiously take
The plums from her tree
Before she could wake.
This old woman went
One day to the lawn
Of my Lord Cockagee,
And there saw a fawn.
Having shot him, she tied
His hind legs to her tree,
And so quitted the lawn
Of my Lord Cockagee.
She'd nearly reached home,
When the constable came,
And put her in prison
For killing the game.
While locked in her cell,
She thought again and again
Of how to escape,
But kept thinking in vain.
She considered each plan,
Till she found out a way
Of escaping the prison
In the course of the day.
She cut the plum tree
close off from her nose,
And made a scarecrow,
Dress'd up in her clothes;
This she set on a stool,
With it's back to the wall,
And watch'd near the door
For fear it would fall.
Soon the jailor came in
With her water and bread;
He stared at the figure,
While from prison she fled.
The old woman reached home,
Singing diddle-dee-dee;
And again on her nose
There grew a plum tree.