Sing a Song of Sixpence
Nursery Rhyme from Mother Goose

Sing a Song of Sixpence nursery rhyme

First appearance in print: 1744

Fact: in the 16th century it was considered amusing to bake live birds into a pie so they would fly out when the pie was cut open. (I'm not sure how amusing the birds thought it was!)

Vocabulary

• sixpence, a British coin
• counting house, accounting office
• rye, a grain

Sing a song of sixpence,
A pocket full of rye;
Four-and-twenty blackbirds
Baked in a pie!

When the pie was opened
The birds began to sing;
Was not that a dainty dish
To set before the king?

The king was in his counting-house,
Counting out his money;
The queen was in the parlor,
Eating bread and honey.

The maid was in the garden,
Hanging out the clothes;
When down came a blackbird
And snapped off her nose.

Sing a Song of Sixpence appears in Blanche Fisher Wright's classic The Real Mother Goose collection.

More Mother Goose nursery rhymes.

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