Hick-a-more, Hack-a-more Lyrics
Something sits on the king's kitchen door and neither the king's horses nor the king's men can drive it off. Its name is a rhythm of nonsense words, and the answer is sunshine.
Hick-a-more, Hack-a-more
Hick-a-more, Hack-a-more,
On the king's kitchen-door;
All the king's horses,
And all the king's men,
Couldn't drive Hick-a-more, Hack-a-more,
Off the king's kitchen-door!
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/hick-a-more-hack-a-more/
- Type
- Mother Goose
- Tune
- Rolling and playful on the nonsense words, then slower for the king's men
- Best for ages
- 4 to 9 years
What Does Hick-a-more, Hack-a-more Mean?
The answer is sunshine. A patch of sunlight can lie across a door and you cannot push it, sweep it or pull it away. All the king's horses and all the king's men, the strongest helpers a king has, cannot shift it. Only the sun moving or a cloud passing can.
Hick-a-more, Hack-a-more has no dictionary meaning. The two words are chosen for the sound, in the same way as hickory-dickory, and the doubling gives the first line its bounce. The line about the king's horses and men will remind many families of another rhyme, but the horses and men here have no job except to fail.
The riddle has a nice question inside it for a child: what can a strong person not move, even if they try for a very long time?
History and Origin
James Orchard Halliwell prints the riddle in The Nursery Rhymes of England, first published in 1842, among the riddles. The book gives the answer, sunshine, with the riddle.
Learning Activities
- Chase the sunbeam: on a bright day, watch a patch of sunlight cross the floor, and mark where it lies each hour with a piece of tape or a toy.
- Try to move it: let the child try to sweep the light away with a hand, then explain why it will not go.
- Strongest things: ask what the strongest thing in the world is, and whether it could move a sunbeam.
- Nonsense names: invent your own rhythmic nonsense name for a sunbeam, such as Glim-a-more, Glow-a-more.