Chapter IX

There was a giant walked out one day,
To eat whatever came in his way;
This giant was greedy, this giant was grim,
And the people were all afraid of him.

He crossed the field and came into the street,
And a dainty damsel he there did meet;
“What is your name?” says he to her,
And she says, “Lucy Locket, sir.”

“A very nice name is Lucy Locket,
And you will just fit my waistcoat-pocket;”
So said the giant, and popped her in,
And the pocket was more than up to her chin.

The giant says, “Oh, this is the street;
Your father and mother I mean to eat.”
But Lucy, she thought, “You wicked man!”
And then to tickle him she began.

Her hand was light, her hand was small,
He scarcely felt it at first at all;
She tickled and tickled, and by degrees
He felt as if he should like to sneeze!

This giant could growl, and shout, and roar,
But he never had laughed in his life before,
And now he began to look less grim
As Lucy kept on tickling him.

The people heard and the people saw,--
“He, hee!” says the giant, “ha hah! haw haw!”
Oh, they were puzzled, but Lucy Locket
Made signs to them out of his doublet-pocket.

His mad guffaws for a mile they hear,
His mouth is stretched from ear to ear;
Thinks he, “To laugh is a pleasant plan,
So now I will laugh as long as I can.”

He laughed till he ached and his eyes grew dim,
As Lucy kept on tickling him;
He laughed till the tears ran down his face,
And he fell down, flop, in the market-place!

Then out of his pocket Lucy leapt,
And close behind him the people crept;
With twisted cables and iron bands
And things of that sort they tied his hands.

They tied his hands and they tied his feet,
They said, “Pray, what would you like to eat?”
And Lucy got into his pocket again,
And made him laugh like a thousand men!

He laughed all day, he laughed all night,
He laughed when they woke in the morning light,
He laughed that week and the fortnight after,--
Travellers came to hear his laughter!

They let him laugh on to his heart’s content
In a show as high as the Monument;
They gave to Lucy a penny clear
For every person who came to hear,
So now the girl is as rich as a prince,
For he has been laughing ever since.

X

Baby, baby bowling,
Set the hoop a-rolling;
The hoop will wait
At the turnpike gate,
And the man will take the toll in.

XI

Diddy Doddy Dumpling,
Muslin all a-crumpling;
Cap like an arch,
Stiff with starch--
Diddy Doddy Dumpling!

Niddy Noddy Nursey,
How shall we make _her_ see?
Bobs and blinks,
Wobbles and winks--
Niddy Noddy Nursey!

XII

What do you think?
Why, pen and ink,
And a rosewood desk, or better;
The old black hen,
She mended the pen,
And the little pig wrote a letter.

XIII

Johnny drew a picture, but Johnny couldn’t spell;
What he wrote under it I’m ashamed to tell;
All in large capitals Johnny wrote PECTURE,
Stuck it up upon the wall, and said that he would lecture;
What a funny lecture, though, Johnny will deliver;
While, with aches at his mistakes, all the people shiver!

XIV

Mind the cat,
Find the cat,
Who will be first behind the cat?
The cat’s on the mat
In a billycock hat,
And that’s the way to find the cat.

XV

Large eyes, little eyes, brown eyes, blue eyes,
My doll has had an accident and wants a pair of new eyes;
Strong legs, long legs, one leg and two legs,
My doll has had an accident and wants a pair of new legs;
Dribble dribble, trickle trickle, what a lot of raw dust!
Dolly had an accident, and out came the sawdust!

XVI

One, two, three,
Put the cups for tea;
Two, three, one,
Toast a Sally-Lunn.
Fanny sat down
In a new gown;
Emma spilt the milk
Over the satin and silk,
One, two, three,
“Never wear silk at tea,”

(Two, three, one),
So said Dimity Dunn;
Ever so many slices,
Bread and butter, and niceys;
One, two, three,
White sugar for me!
Two, three, one,
Now the tea’s done.

XVII

Baby has just been feeding;
See, he has emptied the cup!
And now he sits a-reading,
But the book is wrong-side up;

Will he make out what the book is about
Before it is time to sup?
His fist he doubles;
He blows little bubbles;
He splutters and stutters,
And tells you his troubles,
Reading the book that is wrong-side up!

XVIII

“Daughter, daughter,
Mind the water!”
She said she never should,
So she went in
Right up to her chin,
And did not find it good;

For the water was bitter,
And made her twitter,
As nobody thought she could!
She cried in haste,
“What a nasty taste!
I wish I had understood!”

Oh, send and save her!
A beautiful flavour
Is not to be found in the flood;
And wine or tea
Is the drink for me
At a picnic in the wood!

XIX

Hurly Burly
And Curly Wurly
Went to the fair together;
It rained in the night
For more delight,
And it was windy weather.

Hurly Burly jumped the stiles,
Laughed and in-and-outed;
Hurly Burly ran for miles,
Hurly Burly shouted.

Curly Wurly went off in smiles,
Except just when she pouted!
The Quakeress peeped from under the tiles,
Saying, “If I could smile as thou did!”

Hurly Buriy’s talk was mad,
Like Singlestick and Latin;
Curly Wurly a sweet tongue had,
And she was soft as satin.

Then Hurly Burly and Curly Wurly,
When they had their airing,
Came home betimes, like a poet’s rhymes,
Each of them with a fairing.

For he had a monstrous popgun got,
That went with a noise like thunder;
And she had a beautiful true-love knot,
That never would come in sunder.

XX

Nathan Nobb,
Oh, what a job!
Always walked on his head;
His mother would sob
To his brother Bob,
And his father took to his bed.

They made him a boot
His head to suit,
But a horrible thing must be said,--
His hair took root,
And began to shoot,
One day, in the garden bed!

So there he stands
With the help of his hands
And a little support from his nose:
The gardener man,
With the watering-can,
Says, “Gracious, how fast he grows!”

XXI

Blow, blow, east wind!
What does the east wind do?
Shine, shine, sunlight!
And what does the sunshine do?
The sunshine clear
Goes there and here,
And searches in every nook,
And, while it is going,
The wind is blowing
Farther than you can look;
The east wind blows,
It sweeps, it goes
The whole world through;
As the world grows green,
It sweeps it clean,
And the sky is a pale, cold blue:
Blow, blow, east wind,
Finish your blowing, do!
And the west wind, dear, will soon be here,
With skies of deep, warm blue.

Baby’s Bells

BABY’S BELLS