There's a heck of a draught coming through the door, and I suddenly realised why it's so cold - the wind is from the north. That immediately lead me to remember 'The north wind doth blow, And we shall have snow, And what will the robin do then, poor thing?' but I then had to google because I couldn't remember the fourth line.
I was flabbergasted to discover that there were four other verses as well.
The north wind doth blow,
And we shall have snow,
And what will the robin do then, poor thing?
He'll sit in a barn,
And keep himself warm,
And hide his head under his wing, poor thing!
The north wind doth blow,
And we shall have snow,
And what will the swallow do then, poor thing?
Oh, do you not know
That he's off long ago
To a country where he'll find spring, poor thing!
The north wind doth blow,
And we shall have snow,
And what will the dormouse do then, poor thing?
Roll'd up like a ball,
In his nest snug and small,
He'll sleep till warm weather comes in, poor thing!
The north wind doth blow,
And we shall have snow,
And what will the honey-bee do then, poor thing?In his hive he will stay
Till the cold is away,
And then he'll come out in the spring, poor thing!
The north wind doth blow,
And we shall have snow,
And what will the children do then, poor things?
When lessons are done,
They must skip, jump and run,
Until they have made themselves warm, poor things!
Sadly a google search for
"I've expect you've all heard of Mister Mole,
Who lives in the groind in a big deep hole.
Mister Mole likes worms for tea -
Juicy and fat, and big as can be."
which I first read in 'Sunny Stories' a magazine edited/mainly written by Enid Blyton resulted in no hits though I think there was at least one more verse.
One verse that I did learn from that magazine was
"When cats run home and light is come,
And dew is cold upon the ground,
And the far-off stream is dumb,
And the whirring sail goes round,
And the whirring sail goes round;
Alone and warming his five wits,
The white owl in the belfry sits"
Because it was in the magazine I always thought that Enid Blyton wrote it, but I now find that it was written by a fellow Yellow-Belly, Alfred Tennyson. I have a vague recollection of the second verse, but mainly remember the last two lines of each verse.
"When merry milkmaids click the latch,
And rarely smells the new-mown hay,
And the cock hath sung beneath the thatch
Twice or thrice his roundelay,
Twice or thrice his roundelay;
Alone and warming his five wits,
The white owl in the belfry sits."
Results 1 to 7 of 7
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21-01-2021, 3:42 AM #1
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Poetry corner - a.k.a I never knew that
Vulcan XH558 - “Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.”
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21-01-2021, 11:18 AM #2
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Never knew that...
I was watching Tipping Point the other day and one of the questions was "what colour was the paper used to wrap Jack's head in the nursery rhyme Jack and Jill?" Well the contestant didn't know the answer and it made me think that perhaps children are not taught nursery rhymes anymore. Also at playtime we used to skip to Ebuchanezzar King of the Jews, Polly Put the Kettle On, One Two Buckle My Shoe and lots more that I am sure many members of this forum will remember.
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21-01-2021, 2:04 PM #3
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21-01-2021, 5:00 PM #4
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21-01-2021, 7:13 PM #5
We played two ball game up against a wall whilst chanting Nebuchadnezzar King of the Jews and would you believe as soon as I read it in your post Sue I remembered the rest of it. But I can only recite the first verse of Jack and Jill and had to consult my book of childhood rhymes and poems to get the last two verses.
Yes squaredancer we also skipped to "The Big Ship sailed through the Alley-alley-oo"
ChristinaSometimes paranoia is just having all the facts.
William Burroughs
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21-01-2021, 7:52 PM #6
g
Regional variations, or poor memory: our Big ship sailed on ....; but then after going to my grand daughter's pantomime and finding out that "My friend the witch doctor" said to use "Ting tang" and not ging gang ( probably a left over from Ging gang goolie goolie wotcha)
And counting out, either to say who was IT, or to pick your team.
Dip dip dip, my little ship, sails on the water like a cup and saucer ....
One potato two potato three potato four .....Peter Nicholl
Researching:Nicholl,Boater, Haselgrove & Vaughan
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22-01-2021, 6:34 PM #7
Yes I remember the song My friend the witchdoctor. Just looked it up and it came out in 1958 which would have been my next to last year at grammar school.
Counting out, either to say who was IT, or to pick your team with One potato two potato three potato four we definitely did in primary school but I hadn't heard of the Dip dip dip, my little ship, sails on the water like a cup and saucer.
ChristinaSometimes paranoia is just having all the facts.
William Burroughs
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