Cock Sparrow

Rhyme of the week:

A LITTLE COCK SPARROW

A little cock sparrow sat on a green tree,
And he chirruped, he chirruped, so merry was he.

A naughty boy came with his wee bow and arrow,
Says he, I will shoot this little cock sparrow.

His body will make me a nice little stew,
And his giblets will make me a little pie too.

Oh, no, said the sparrow, I wont make a stew,
So he clapped his wings and away he flew.

This weeks nursery rhyme is thought to have once been a popular song. In The Manchester Iris, published in 1823, a man reported that a London dandy had sung this new song, though he could not recall the tune. London Cockneys used the term 'cock-robin' to mean friend, which could also have been shortened to 'cocker', and was possibly the origin of the word cockney.

Credit goes to rhymes.org.uk, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes

To learn more about sparrows, go here or here, or go here or here (dictionary) to learn more about Cockney Slang.

Old favourite of the week:

DANCE TO YOUR DADDY

Dance to your daddy,
My little babby,
Dance to your daddy, my little lamb.

You shall have a fishy,
In a little dishy,
You shall have a fishy when the boat comes in.

A dandling song, designed for bouncing a slightly older baby to, generally to amuse them with as little effort as possible. Dance To Your Daddy is Scottish in origin and still very well known throughout the world, despite being published as far back as 1803. There are also several other verses which can be found via a quick search of the original words.

Credit to allaboutinfo.com, The Oxford Dictionary Of Nursery Rhymes,

Evelyn