An April Joke Lyrics
On a merry day the April Fool meets the Queen of May, and the two plan a trick on everyone. The flowers that belong to May open in April, and the April showers do not come until May.
An April Joke
Oh, it was a merry, gladsome day,
When the April Fool met the Queen of May;
She had roguish eyes and golden hair,
And they were a mischief-making pair.
They planned the funniest kind of a joke
On the poor, long-suffering mortal folk;
And a few mysterious words he said,
His fool's cap close to her flower-crowned head.
Then he laughed till he made his cap-bells ring,
At the thought of the topsy-turvy Spring.
"'Tis a fair exchange," he said, with a wink -
"It is!" she said, and what do you think?
The flowers that should bloom in the month of May
Every one of them came on an April day!
And they looked for April showers in vain,
But all through May it did nothing but rain!
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/an-april-joke/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Written by
- Carolyn Wells
- Tune
- Light and sly, like sharing a secret, with a wink on the last two lines
- Best for ages
- 4 to 8 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| Then he laughed till he made his cap-bells ring | Shake your head from side to side as if bells were on a cap. |
| "'Tis a fair exchange," he said, with a wink | Give a big, slow wink. |
What Does An April Joke Mean?
The poem turns two months into two characters. The April Fool wears a jester's cap with bells, and the Queen of May wears a crown of flowers. In many countries 1 April is the day for harmless tricks, and the person who is fooled is an April fool. A Queen of May is the girl chosen to be crowned with flowers at a spring festival.
The joke only works if you know an old saying: April brings the showers and May brings the flowers. Here the two swap jobs, which is why the poem calls the spring topsy-turvy, upside down. Flowers that should wait for May come out in April, and it rains through all of May. Mortal folk just means ordinary people, and a fair exchange is a swap where both sides get something.
History and Origin
Carolyn Wells was an American writer of humorous verse and mystery novels. This poem comes from her book The Jingle Book, which carries a copyright line of 1899. The poem gives the weather a face and a wink.
Learning Activities
- Upside-down weather: ask the child what would be a silly swap, such as snow in summer or sunshine at midnight, and say it in rhyming pairs.
- Spring check: look together at which flowers are out in April and which come later in May, and keep a small list.
- Dress the pair: draw the April Fool with a bell cap and the Queen of May with a flower crown.
- Spot the swap: read the last four lines slowly and ask what went wrong with the weather.