Sing-Song: The City Mouse Lives in a House;—

The city mouse lives in a house;—
The garden mouse lives in a bower,
He’s friendly with the frogs and toads,
And sees the pretty plants in flower.

The city mouse eats bread and cheese;—

The city mouse eats bread and cheese;—
The garden mouse eats what he can;
We will not grudge him seeds and stalks,
Poor little timid furry man.

What does the donkey bray about?

What does the donkey bray about?
What does the pig grunt through his snout?
What does the goose mean by a hiss?
Oh, Nurse, if you can tell me this,
I’ll give you such a kiss.

The cockatoo calls “cockatoo,”

The cockatoo calls “cockatoo,”
The magpie chatters “how d’ye do?”
The jackdaw bids me “go away,”
Cuckoo cries “cuckoo” half the day:
What do the others say?

Three plum buns

Three plum buns
To eat here at the stile
In the clover meadow,
For we have walked a mile.

One for you, and one for me

One for you, and one for me,
And one left over:
Give it to the boy who shouts
To scare sheep from the clover.

A motherless soft lambkin

A motherless soft lambkin
Alone upon a hill;
No mother’s fleece to shelter him
And wrap him from the cold:—
I’ll run to him and comfort him,
I’ll fetch him, that I will;
I’ll care for him and feed him
Until he’s strong and bold.

Dancing on the hill-tops

Dancing on the hill-tops,
Singing in the valleys,
Laughing with the echoes,
Merry little Alice.

Playing games with lambkins

Playing games with lambkins
In the flowering valleys,
Gathering pretty posies,
Helpful little Alice.

If her father’s cottage

If her father’s cottage
Turned into a palace,
And he owned the hill-tops
And the flowering valleys,
She’d be none the happier,
Happy little Alice.