four-and-twenty sailors
That stood between the decks,
Were four-and-twenty white mice,
With chains about their necks.

The captain was a duck,
With a packet on his back;
And when the ship began to move,
The captain cried, "Quack, quack!"

GOOSEY, GOOSEY, GANDER

Goosey, goosey, gander, where dost thou wander?
Up stairs and down stairs, and in my lady's chamber;
There I met an old man that would not say his prayers,
I took him by his hind legs and threw him down stairs.

THE WIND

Arthur O'Bower has broken his band,
He comes roaring up the land--
A King of Scots, with all his power,
Cannot turn Arthur of the Bower.

ONCE I SAW A LITTLE BIRD

Once I saw a little bird
Come hop, hop, hop,
So I said, "Little bird,
Will you stop, stop, stop?"

I was going to the window
To say, "How do you do?"
But he shook his little tail
And far away he flew.

RING-A-RING-A-ROSES

Ring-a-ring-a-roses,
A pocket full of posies;
Hush! hush! hush! hush!
We're all tumbled down.

CROSS PATCH

Cross patch,
Draw the latch,
Sit by the fire and spin;

Take a cup,
And drink it up,
And call your neighbors in.

HAPPY LET US BE

Merry are the bells, and merry would they ring;
Merry was myself, and merry could I sing;
With a merry ding-dong, happy, gay, and free,
And a merry sing-song, happy let us be!

Merry have we met, and merry have we been;
Merry let us part, and merry meet again;
With our merry sing-song, happy, gay, and free,
And a merry ding-dong, happy let us be!

THE OLD WOMAN IN THE BASKET

There was an old woman tossed up in a basket,
Nineteen times as high as the moon;
Where she was going I couldn't but ask it
For in her hand she carried a broom.

"Old woman, old woman, old woman, quoth I,
O whither, O whither, O whither so high?"
"To brush the cobwebs off the sky!"
"Shall I go with thee?" "Aye, by-and-by."

[Illustration: _From a Drawing by Arthur Rackham_
"Where she was going I couldn't but ask it,
For in her hand she carried a broom."]

THE FOX AND THE OLD GRAY GOOSE

The fox and his wife they had a great strife,
They never ate mustard in all their whole lif