Barber, Barber, Shave a Pig Lyrics
A child asks the barber how many hairs it takes to make a wig, is told four and twenty, and the barber is given a pinch of snuff.
Barber, Barber, Shave a Pig
Barber, barber, shave a pig,
How many hairs will make a wig?
"Four and twenty, that's enough,"
Give the barber a pinch of snuff.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/barber-barber-shave-a-pig/
- Type
- Mother Goose
- Tune
- Spoken as a question and answer, with the answer in a different voice
- Best for ages
- 3 to 7 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| Barber, barber, shave a pig | Hold a pretend razor and make short strokes in the air. |
| How many hairs will make a wig? | Hold up your hands in a puzzled shrug. |
| Four and twenty, that's enough | Tap your knee twenty-four times, counting out loud. |
What Does Barber, Barber, Shave a Pig Mean?
The rhyme is a little question and answer. The first two lines ask the barber to shave a pig and ask how many hairs would be enough for a wig. The answer comes in quotation marks: four and twenty, which is twenty-four. The joke is that a wig of only twenty-four hairs would be very thin.
The last line says to give the barber a pinch of snuff as a reward. Snuff is tobacco ground to a powder, which people used to sniff long ago. Wigs, barbers and snuff were all part of everyday life long ago, which is why they turn up together.
History and Origin
Walter Jerrold prints the verse in The Big Book of Nursery Rhymes (1903). The same four lines are also in Halliwell's The Nursery Rhymes of England, Andrew Lang's The Nursery Rhyme Book (1897) and The Real Mother Goose (1916). Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes asks for a pinch of snuff for 'the poor barber'.
Learning Activities
- Count the hairs: count out twenty-four small pieces of wool or string and lay them on a paper head.
- Two voices: one child asks the question and another gives the quoted answer.
- Silly wigs: make paper wigs with a different number of strands and count them.
- Rhyme pairs: say the word pairs pig and wig, enough and snuff and listen for the matching sounds.