A Serious Question Lyrics
A kitten has a light, scoffing chat with a butterfly. A fairy comes by, takes the butterfly's wings and sticks them on the kitten, who flies to the river, sees her reflection and asks if she is a butter-kitten or just a kitten-fly.
A Serious Question
A kitten went a-walking
One morning in July,
And idly fell a-talking
With a great big butterfly.
The kitten's tone was airy,
The butterfly would scoff;
When there came along a fairy
Who whisked his wings right off.
And then - for it is written
Fairies can do such things -
Upon the startled kitten
She stuck the yellow wings.
The kitten felt a quiver,
She rose into the air,
Then flew down to the river
To view her image there.
With fear her heart was smitten,
And she began to cry,
"Am I a butter-kitten?
Or just a kitten-fly?"
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/a-serious-question/
- Type
- Poems for Children, Animal Rhymes
- Written by
- Carolyn Wells
- Tune
- Storytelling voice, then a wobbling, worried voice for the kitten's question
- Best for ages
- 3 to 8 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| She rose into the air, | Spread your arms like wings and rise up on tiptoe. |
| To view her image there. | Lean forward and look down at an imaginary river. |
What Does A Serious Question Mean?
The title is the kitten's question at the end, and it is a good one, because the poem is a small fairy tale with a twist. A kitten out walking one morning in July chats idly with a great big butterfly. The kitten's tone is airy, which means light and careless, and the butterfly scoffs, which means it answers in a mocking way. A fairy then takes the butterfly's wings and, as the poem says, fairies can do such things, sticks the yellow wings on the kitten.
The kitten shakes, rises into the air and flies to the river to see what she looks like. Her heart is smitten with fear, an old way of saying struck by it, and she cries. She then asks two made-up names, a butter-kitten or just a kitten-fly. Both are jokes on the real names butterfly and kitten, with the pieces swapped around. The poem leaves the question unanswered, and children enjoy answering it themselves.
History and Origin
A Serious Question comes from The Jingle Book (copyright 1899). The words butter-kitten and kitten-fly are jokes the poem makes on butterfly and kitten.
Learning Activities
- Swap the halves: make new mixed-up animal names from two animals, such as a cat-erpillar, and draw one.
- Answer the question: ask the child whether the kitten is a butter-kitten or a kitten-fly, and why.
- Water mirror: look at your reflection in a bowl of still water, as the kitten does at the river.
- Wings on: cut yellow paper wings and let the child fly around the room.