A Bundle of Hay Lyrics
Hay from the Arctic, bread from Rome and a mule from the edge of the known world. Six lines of happy nonsense that travel the whole map.
A Bundle of Hay
A bundle of hay
From Baffin's Bay,
A johnny-cake from Rome,
A man and a mule
From Ultima Thule
To carry the cargo home.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/a-bundle-of-hay/
- Type
- Mother Goose
- Tune
- Spoken rhyme
- Best for ages
- 4 to 9 years
What Does A Bundle of Hay Mean?
Baffin Bay lies between Canada and Greenland, where no hay grows. A johnny-cake is an American cornmeal flatbread, not something from Rome. Ultima Thule was the old name for the farthest northern land in the world. The joke is that everything comes from the wrong place, and a man and a mule must carry it all home.
History and Origin
The rhyme comes from The Peter Patter Book of Nursery Rhymes (1918) by the American writer Leroy F. Jackson, who wrote new rhymes in the old Mother Goose style, full of nonsense, food and faraway places.
Learning Activities
- Map hunt: find Baffin Bay, Rome and Greenland on a map or globe.
- Wrong places: make up your own: "A pineapple from Spain, a snowman from the Sahara".
- Johnny-cakes: make simple cornmeal pancakes together.