A Little Boy's Pocket Lyrics
A small boy empties his pocket to show a shell, the handle of a broken cup, a ball, three pennies and a string, and tells how he lost an iron ring through a hole.
A Little Boy's Pocket
Do you know what's in my pottet?
Such a lot of treasures in it!
Listen now while I bedin it:
Such a lot of sings it holds,
And everysin dats in my pottet,
And when, and where, and how I dot it.
First of all, here's in my pottet
A beauty shell, I pit'd it up:
And here's the handle of a tup
That somebody has broked at tea;
The shell's a hole in it, you see:
Nobody knows dat I dot it,
I teep it safe here in my pottet.
And here's my ball too in my pottet,
And here's my pennies, one, two, free,
That Aunty Mary dave to me,
To-morrow day I'll buy a spade,
When I'm out walking with the maid;
I tant put that in here my pottet!
But I can use it when I've dot it.
Here's some more sings in my pottet,
Here's my lead, and here's my string;
And once I had an iron ring,
But through a hole it lost one day,
And this is what I always say -
A hole's the worst sing in a pottet,
Be sure and mend it when you've dot it.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/a-little-boys-pocket/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Tune
- Proud and chatty, in a little child's voice
- Best for ages
- 3 to 7 years
What Does A Little Boy's Pocket Mean?
The speaker talks the way a very small child does, swapping sounds, and the game is working out each word. Pottet is pocket, bedin is begin, sings are things, everysin is everything, dats is that's, dot is got, pit'd is picked, tup is cup, teep is keep, free is three, dave is gave and tant is can't. Broked is a child's way of saying broken.
The treasures are the sort a child collects: a shell with a hole in it, the handle that came off a cup at tea, a ball, three pennies from Aunty Mary and a string. The pennies are for a spade tomorrow, which will not fit in the pocket. The last lines tell how an iron ring was lost through a hole, and gives the sensible moral that a hole is the worst thing in a pocket, so mend it.
History and Origin
The poem is in Childhood's Favorites and Fairy Stories, a large anthology edited by Hamilton Wright Mabie and others, in the University Society edition of 1927 with copyright dates of 1909, 1917 and 1919. The book marks the author of this poem as unknown.
Learning Activities
- Translate it: read a line in baby talk and let the child say it in ordinary words.
- Empty a pocket: let the child show the safe things in their own pocket, and make a rhyme about each one.
- Mend the hole: look at a pocket with a hole and talk about how a grown-up would sew it up.
- Count the treasures: count the things in the poem on your fingers.