Fun Stuff
Nursery Rhymes
I Saw a Ship a-Sailing
I saw a ship a-sailing,
A-sailing on the sea;
And, oh! it was all laden
With pretty things for thee!
There were comfits in the cabin,
And apples in the hold;
The sails were made of silk,
And the masts were made of gold.
The four-and-twenty sailors
That stood between the decks,
Were four-and-twenty white mice
With chains about their necks.
The captain was a duck,
With a packet on his back;
And when the ship began to move,
The captain said, "Quack! Quack!"
I love the way nursery rhymes evolve over the years. Sometimes just a word or two changes, sometimes complete verses change. This lovely illustration features lyrics that are very close to the ones I quoted above. However, with one simple title switch to a "fairy ship," the whole feeling of the poem changes, doesn't it?
Mother Osprey Poem: I Saw a Ship a-Sailing
Illustration from The Baby's Bouquet: A Fresh Bunch of Rhymes and Tunes (available through Project Gutenberg)
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I saw a ship a-sailing,
A-sailing on the sea;
And, oh! it was all laden
With pretty things for thee!
There were comfits in the cabin,
And apples in the hold;
The sails were made of silk,
And the masts were made of gold.
The four-and-twenty sailors
That stood between the decks,
Were four-and-twenty white mice
With chains about their necks.
The captain was a duck,
With a packet on his back;
And when the ship began to move,
The captain said, "Quack! Quack!"
I love the way nursery rhymes evolve over the years. Sometimes just a word or two changes, sometimes complete verses change. This lovely illustration features lyrics that are very close to the ones I quoted above. However, with one simple title switch to a "fairy ship," the whole feeling of the poem changes, doesn't it?
Mother Osprey Poem: I Saw a Ship a-Sailing
Illustration from The Baby's Bouquet: A Fresh Bunch of Rhymes and Tunes (available through Project Gutenberg)
< Back to Rhymes & Rules