The Nursery Rhymes of England Part 20

Yet things break in and steal the gold.

CCIV.

[A horse-sh.o.e.r.]

What shoe-maker makes shoes without leather, With all the four elements put together?

Fire and water, earth and air; Ev'ry customer has two pair.

CCV.

[Currants.]

Higgledy piggledy Here we lie, Pick'd and pluck'd, And put in a pie.

My first is snapping, snarling, growling, My second's industrious, romping, and prowling.

Higgledy piggledy Here we lie, Pick'd and pluck'd, And put in a pie.

CCVI.

Thomas a Tattamus took two Ts, To tie two tups to two tall trees, To frighten the terrible Thomas a Tattamus!

Tell me how many Ts there are in all THAT.

CCVII.

[The man had one eye, and the tree two apples upon it.]

There was a man who had no eyes, He went abroad to view the skies; He saw a tree with apples on it, He took no apples off, yet left no apples on it.

CCVIII.

[Cleopatra.]

The moon nine days old, The next sign to cancer; Pat rat without a tail;-- And now, sir, for your answer,

CCIX.

[A candle.]

Little Nancy Etticoat, In a white petticoat, And a red nose; The longer she stands, The shorter she grows.

CCX.

[Pair of tongs.]

Long legs, crooked thighs, Little head and no eyes.

CCXI.

[From MS. Sloane, 1489, fol. 16, written in the time of Charles I.]

There were three sisters in a hall, There came a knight amongst them all; Good morrow, aunt, to the one, Good morrow, aunt, to the other, Good morrow, gentlewoman, to the third, If you were my aunt, As the other two be, I would say good morrow, Then, aunts, all three.

CCXII.

[Isabel.]

Congeal'd water and Cain's brother, That was my lover's name, and no other.

CCXIII.

[Teeth and Gums.]

Thirty white horses upon a red hill, Now they tramp, now they champ, now they stand still.

CCXIV.

[Coals.]

Black we are, but much admired; Men seek for us till they are tired.

We tire the horse, but comfort man Tell me this riddle if you can.

CCXV.

[A Star.]

Higher than a house, higher than a tree; Oh, whatever can that be?

CCXVI.

[An Egg.]

Humpty dumpty sate on a wall, Humpty dumpty had a great fall; Three score men and three score more Cannot place Humpty Dumpty as he was before.

CCXVII.

[The allusion to Oliver Cromwell satisfactorily fixes the date of the riddle to belong to the seventeenth century. The answer is, a rainbow.]