tended to represent a story, or a series of questions and answers, such as I have first mentioned, to a mere collection of nonsense verses, from which it is impossible to evolve any connected thread or idea whatever.
The following is often said by boys and girls as a general rhyme, but in some districts of Dorset it is adopted as a nursery one, when the nurse or other person on taking off a child's boots pretends to knock nails into its foot, saying:
"'[John Smith] fellow fine,
'Can you shoe this horse of mine?'
'Yes, good sir, that I can,
'As well as any other man.
Here's a nail and here's a prod,
And now, good sir, your horse is shod.'"[1]
The next is common, with its variants, to many countries:
"One, two,
Buckle my shoe;
Three, four,
Open the door;
Five, six,
Pick up sticks;
Seven, eight,
Lay them straight;
Nine, ten,
A good fat hen;
Eleven, twelve,
Let them delve;
Thirteen, fourteen,
Maids a-courtin';
Fifteen, sixteen,
Maids a-kissin';
[Maids in the kitchen;]
Seventeen, eighteen,
Maids a-waitin';
[I'm a-waitin';]
Nineteen, twenty,
My stomach's empty;
Please, mother, give me some dinner."[2]
