Here Comes an Old Soldier from Botany Bay Lyrics
Don't say yes. Don't say no. Don't say black, white or grey. This two-line rhyme opens a party game that has tripped up children for well over a hundred years.
Here Comes an Old Soldier from Botany Bay
Here comes an old soldier from Botany Bay,
Have you got anything to give him to-day.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/here-comes-an-old-soldier-from-botany-bay/
- Type
- Action Songs
- Tune
- Spoken rhyme
- Best for ages
- 5 to 11 years
What Does Here Comes an Old Soldier from Botany Bay Mean?
One player acts as an old soldier home from far away, asking the others what they can give him. The others must answer every question without using the forbidden words. The soldier talks as much as he likes and asks sneaky questions, such as "Would you give me a coat? Is it black?", hoping someone will slip. Each slip costs a forfeit, a small penalty paid back later in the game.
History and Origin
Alice Bertha Gomme recorded this version in Liverpool for her Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (volume 2, 1898). Children in Barnes, near London, played the same game with "an old soldier from the wars". Botany Bay is a bay near Sydney, where Captain Cook landed in 1770, and in Britain the name became shorthand for faraway Australia. Gomme also noted that the list of banned words sometimes included red or blue, which made choosing clothes to give the soldier much harder.
Learning Activities
- Classic rules: ban yes, no, black, white and grey. Anyone who says one hands over a forfeit, such as a shoe or a hair clip.
- Win it back: at the end, each forfeit is returned for a small task: a song, a hop on one leg, a joke.
- Word swap: older children can choose new banned words, such as the names of colors or numbers.
- Map it: find Botany Bay on a map and talk about how long the journey from Britain took by ship.