As I Went Through the Garden Gap (Riddle) Lyrics
A walker meets Dick Red-cap in the garden. He has a stick in his hand and a stone in his throat, and the one who guesses who he is will be paid a groat. The answer is a cherry.
As I Went Through the Garden Gap (Riddle)
As I went through the garden gap,
Who should I meet but Dick Red-cap!
A stick in his hand, a stone in his throat,
If you'll tell me this riddle, I'll give you a groat.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/as-i-went-through-the-garden-gap/
- Type
- Mother Goose
- Tune
- Spoken riddle
- Best for ages
- 4 to 9 years
What Does As I Went Through the Garden Gap (Riddle) Mean?
The answer is a cherry, and the book gives it. Dick Red-cap is the red fruit. The stick in his hand is the cherry's stalk, and the stone in his throat is the hard pit inside. A riddle like this treats the thing as if it were a little person, so every part of the fruit becomes a part of the body.
The last line is the prize. A groat was an old English silver coin worth fourpence, so the riddler offers a small reward to anyone who guesses it. Gap is an opening in a hedge or wall. Two pairs of words rhyme: gap with cap, and throat with groat.
Give a child a real cherry and read the riddle again. The stalk and the stone suddenly make sense, and a child who has felt the hard pit with a tongue will find the "stone in his throat" funny.
History and Origin
The riddle is in James Orchard Halliwell's The Nursery Rhymes of England, in the part of the book given to riddles, with its answer printed. Halliwell's collection first appeared in the 1840s and was reprinted many times.
Learning Activities
- Guess first: say the riddle and let the child guess before you give the answer.
- Cherry parts: look at a cherry with an adult and point to the stalk and the stone.
- Draw Dick Red-cap: draw a cherry as a little person with a red cap, a stick and a stone.
- Make a riddle: choose another fruit and describe its parts as if it were a person.