At the Siege of Belleisle Lyrics
Someone who keeps telling everyone they were there, all the while, at a famous battle. This little rhyme is a gentle joke about a boaster who never stops repeating the same story.
At the Siege of Belleisle
At the siege of Belleisle,
I was there all the while,
All the while, all the while,
At the siege of Belleisle.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/at-the-siege-of-belleisle/
- Type
- Mother Goose
- Tune
- Spoken rhyme
- Best for ages
- 5 to 10 years
What Does At the Siege of Belleisle Mean?
The speaker says, over and over, that they were at the siege of Belleisle "all the while", the whole time. The repetition is the joke: it sounds like someone who brings up the same proud story at every opportunity, without ever saying what they actually did.
History and Origin
Belle Ile is an island off the coast of Brittany, in France. In 1761, during the Seven Years' War, British forces besieged and captured it, and the news was celebrated in Britain. This short rhyme, printed in The Little Mother Goose (1912), probably dates from soon after, when anyone who had been there had a story to tell.
Learning Activities
- Find it: look for Belle Ile on a map of France.
- Story time: ask grandparents to tell a story they like to repeat, and talk about why people retell favorite stories.
- All the while: chant it as a round, with each group starting a line later.