Freddie and the Cherry-Tree Lyrics
A boy asks the ripe cherries on a tree to come down to him, and the biggest cherry bobs about, laughs, and tickles his nose.
Freddie and the Cherry-Tree
Freddie saw some fine ripe cherries
Hanging on a cherry-tree,
And he said, "You pretty cherries,
Will you not come down to me?"
"Thank you kindly," said a cherry,
"We would rather stay up here;
If we ventured down this morning,
You would eat us up, I fear."
One, the finest of the cherries,
Dangled from a slender twig;
"You are beautiful," said Freddie,
"Red and ripe, and oh, how big!"
"Catch me," said the cherry, "catch me,
Little master, if you can."
"I would catch you soon," said Freddie,
"If I were a grown-up man."
Freddie jumped, and tried to reach it,
Standing high upon his toes;
But the cherry bobbed about,
And laughed, and tickled Freddie's nose.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/freddie-and-the-cherry-tree/
- Type
- Mother Goose
- Tune
- Spoken rhyme
- Best for ages
- 3 to 7 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| Standing high upon his toes | Stand on tiptoe and reach up as high as you can. |
| Catch me, said the cherry | Wiggle your fingers like a cherry dangling from a twig. |
| Tickled Freddie's nose | Tickle the end of your own nose. |
What Does Freddie and the Cherry-Tree Mean?
The poem is a conversation between a boy and a cherry tree. Freddie asks the cherries to come down to him, and one of them politely answers that they would rather stay up because he would eat them. The biggest cherry dares him to catch it. Freddie says he could if he were a grown-up man, jumps up on his toes, and the cherry bobs out of reach and tickles his nose.
It is a light joke about wanting something just out of reach. Children enjoy giving the cherry a funny voice, and it opens a talk about growing taller and what you can reach now.
History and Origin
This poem is printed in Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes, a picture book illustrated by John Gilbert, where it sits among the nursery verses and songs. The book gives no name for the writer, so it is shown here as an anonymous nursery poem.
It reads like a poem written for the nursery rather than a very old folk rhyme, with an even rhythm and a small story from start to finish.
Learning Activities
- Cherry hunt: hang paper cherries on a branch and let children try to reach them.
- Act it out: one child is Freddie, one is the cherry, and they speak the lines in turn.
- Fruit talk: ask what other fruit might talk back from a tree.
- Growing chart: mark each child's height on the wall and compare to the top of a doorway.