172

NUKSERY RAYMES.

 

How can there be a bird without eer a bone?
Para-mara, dictum, &c.

How can there be a cherry without e’er a stone?
Partum, quartum, &c.

How can there be a blanket without e’er a thread?
Para-mara, dictum, &c.

How can there be a book which no man can read ?
Partum, quartum, &c.

When the bird’s in the shell, there is no bone;
Para-mara, dictum, &c.

When the cherry’s in the bud, there is no stone;
Partum, quartum, &c.

When the blanket’s in the fleece, there is no thread ;
Para-mara, dictum, &c.

When the book’s in the press, no man can read;
Partum, quartum, &c.

Several versions of this metrical riddle are common in the north of England, and
an ingenious antiquary has suggested that it is a parody on the old monkish
songs !] :

CCCV.

HIGHTY, tighty, paradighty clothed in green,

The King could not read it, no more could the Queen ;
They sent for a wise man out of the East,

Who said it had horns, but was not a beast!

The Holly Tree.