Formed Long Ago, Yet Made To-day Lyrics
A four-line riddle about something that was built long ago but is made again every day, and that is in use while other people sleep. The answer is a bed.
Formed Long Ago, Yet Made To-day
Formed long ago, yet made to-day,
Employed while others sleep;
What few would like to give away,
Nor any wish to keep.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/formed-long-ago-yet-made-to-day/
- Type
- Mother Goose
- Tune
- Spoken slowly, like a riddle, with a pause before the last two lines
- Best for ages
- 5 to 9 years
What Does Formed Long Ago, Yet Made To-day Mean?
The answer is a bed. The riddle works because the word made has two meanings. A bed frame is made, or built, by a carpenter long before anyone sleeps in it. A bed is also made every morning, when the sheets are pulled straight and the pillow is plumped. So it can be formed long ago and made to-day without any contradiction.
Employed means put to use, and a bed is used by those who sleep. The last two lines hold a second pun. Few people would like to give their own bed away, yet nobody wishes to keep it either, because to keep to your bed means to have to stay in bed when you are poorly. A bed is something you are glad to use and glad to leave.
History and Origin
The riddle is in James Orchard Halliwell's The Nursery Rhymes of England, first published in 1842. The book gives the answer, a bed, with the riddle.
Learning Activities
- Make the bed together: let the child straighten the sheet and plump the pillow, then say the first line of the riddle once the bed is made.
- Two meanings of made: ask what else can be made two ways, such as a cake or a meal, and see whether they build or tidy.
- Bed riddles: take turns describing a pillow, a blanket or a lamp in the same style, without naming it.
- Who sleeps where: talk about the different places people and animals sleep, then ask which one is used while others are awake.