The Poetry Corner

Nursery Rhyme. CCLXXXVI. Games.

By Unknown

[This game begins thus: Take this - What's this? - A gaping, wide-mouthed, waddling frog, & c.] Twelve huntsmen with horns and hounds, Hunting over other men's grounds! Eleven ships sailing o'er the main, Some bound for France and some for Spain: I wish them all safe home again: Ten comets in the sky, Some low and some high; Nine peacocks in the air, I wonder how they all came there, I do not know and I do not care; Eight joiners in joiner's hall, Working with the tools and all; Seven lobsters in a dish, As fresh as any heart could wish; Six beetles against the wall, Close by an old woman's apple stall; Five puppies of our dog Ball, Who daily for their breakfast call; Four horses stuck in a bog, Three monkeys tied to a clog; Two pudding-ends would choke a dog. With a gaping, wide-mouthed, waddling frog.