Good Dobbin Lyrics
A child thanks the horse Dobbin for carrying papa home through wind, rain, mud and the dark. Dobbin is promised oats and told to go and rest on the straw. Four verses of gratitude to a hard-working animal.
Good Dobbin
Oh! thank you, good Dobbin, you've been a long track,
And have carried papa all the way on your back;
You shall have some nice oats, faithful Dobbin, indeed,
For you've brought papa home to his darling with speed.
The howling wind blew, and the pelting rain beat,
And the thick mud has cover'd his legs and his feet,
But yet on he gallop'd in spite of the rain,
And has brought papa home to his darling again.
The sun it was setting a long while ago,
And papa could not see the road where he should go,
But Dobbin kept on through the desolate wild,
And has brought papa home again safe to his child.
Now go to the stable, the night is so raw,
Go, Dobbin, and rest your old bones on the straw;
Don't stand any longer out here in the rain,
For you've brought papa home to his darling again.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/good-dobbin/
- Type
- Poems for Children, Animal Rhymes
- Tune
- Warm and slow, like speaking kindly to a horse
- Best for ages
- 3 to 8 years
What Does Good Dobbin Mean?
Dobbin was a common pet name for a farm or cart horse, so the poem's horse could be any faithful animal. The child speaking is waiting at home and says thank you for four things in a row. Dobbin has come a "long track", has carried papa "all the way on your back", has kept going through "the howling wind" and "pelting rain", and has not stopped even after the sun set and papa could not see the road.
Two old words matter. A night that is raw is cold and damp, and the desolate wild means a lonely stretch of open country with no houses. The last verse turns from thanks to care: Dobbin is told to go to the stable and rest his old bones on the straw rather than stand out in the rain.
The poem tells a child a simple thing about animals that work for us: they are tired too, and it is right to thank them and look after them when the work is done.
History and Origin
The poem is in Rhymes for the Nursery, a book whose title page says it is by "the Authors of Original Poems". This copy is the 23rd edition, printed in London by Harvey and Darton in 1831. The book first came out in 1806 and is credited to the sisters Ann and Jane Taylor, but the book does not say which of them wrote each poem.
Its preface says the rhymes are meant to circulate in the nursery, and that the writers were unsure whether ideas for small children could fit rhyme and metre, so they attempted it humbly.
Learning Activities
- Thank-you for a helper: each child says thank you to something that works for them, such as a car, a bike, a pet or a person.
- Stable for a toy horse: make a straw bed or a blanket nest for a toy horse and sing the last verse as you settle it.
- Weather words: list the wind, rain and mud in verse two and say how each would feel on a long ride.
- What do horses eat? look at a picture of oats and hay and talk about what a horse needs after a day's work.