A Farmer in Bungleton Had a Colt Lyrics
Nothing on this farm works the way it should. The colt will not learn to moo, the cow is locked away until she can have a shoe, the ducks will not gobble, the geese will not quack and the cat cannot bark. The farmer gives up in eight lines.
A Farmer in Bungleton Had a Colt
A Farmer in Bungleton had a colt
That couldn't be taught to moo;
And he kept his cow under lock and bolt
Till the smith could make her a shoe.
His ducks wouldn't gobble, his geese wouldn't quack,
His cat couldn't bark at all.
"I'm clean discouraged!" he cried; "alack!
I'll give up my farm in the fall."
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/a-farmer-in-bungleton-had-a-colt/
- Type
- Poems for Children, Animal Rhymes
- Written by
- Mary Mapes Dodge
- Tune
- A grumbling, put-upon voice, rising to a big sigh on 'alack'
- Best for ages
- 3 to 7 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| That couldn't be taught to moo | Cup your hands round your mouth and give one big, wrong moo. |
| "I'm clean discouraged!" he cried | Put a hand on your forehead and sigh as loudly as you like. |
What Does A Farmer in Bungleton Had a Colt Mean?
Every animal on this farm is asked to do a different animal's job. Moo belongs to the cow, gobble to the turkey, quack to the duck and bark to the dog, yet the poem expects a colt to moo, ducks to gobble, geese to quack and a cat to bark. A colt is a young horse, and a smith is the person who makes iron things such as horseshoes, so the cow waiting for her shoe is one more mix-up: shoes are for horses.
The farmer's cry, "I'm clean discouraged!", means completely discouraged, and alack is an old exclamation of dismay. Fall is the American word for autumn. The place name Bungleton sounds like bungle, to make a mess of things, which suits the farm. The lines rhyme colt with bolt, moo with shoe, quack with alack and all with fall.
History and Origin
The verse is in Rhymes and Jingles, published in 1874 by Mary Mapes Dodge, an American children's author and editor best known for her novel Hans Brinker. Mixing up animal sounds is a favourite nonsense trick, and this poem plays it with a farmer who takes the whole thing seriously.
Learning Activities
- Swap the sounds: say the poem, but let the child shout the animal's real sound each time the poem names a wrong one.
- Who says what? lay out toy animals or pictures of a colt, cow, duck, goose and cat and match each to its real sound.
- Your own muddled farm: invent a new line about a pig that will not oink or a hen that will not cluck, and make it rhyme.
- Cheer the farmer up: let the child say what would make him keep the farm.