Higgledy Piggledy, Here We Lie Lyrics
A short riddle for children: something is picked, plucked and put in a pie, and the two clues in the middle spell out its name. The answer is currants. It is not the black hen rhyme that begins the same way.
Higgledy Piggledy, Here We Lie
Higgledy piggledy
Here we lie,
Pick'd and pluck'd,
And put in a pie.
My first is snapping, snarling, growling,
My second's industrious, romping, and prowling.
Higgledy piggledy
Here we lie,
Pick'd and pluck'd,
And put in a pie.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/higgledy-piggledy-here-we-lie/
- Type
- Mother Goose
- Tune
- Spoken as a riddle, with a pause before the clues
- Best for ages
- 5 to 9 years
What Does Higgledy Piggledy, Here We Lie Mean?
Higgledy piggledy means in a jumble, all mixed up. The ones speaking are lying jumbled together, picked and plucked and put in a pie. Something that is picked off a bush and baked in a pie is fruit, and the answer to this riddle is currants.
The middle two lines are the clue, and they work like a word puzzle. Split the answer into two parts. "My first is snapping, snarling, growling" describes a cur, an old word for a rough, snarling dog. "My second's industrious, romping, and prowling" describes ants, which work hard and roam about. Put them together and the word is cur plus ants, said aloud as currants.
The riddle fools a listener on purpose, because "picked and plucked" can make a listener think of feathers. The four lines that frame the clue are the same at the start and the end, so the riddle also works as a little rhyme to chant.
History and Origin
James Orchard Halliwell printed this riddle in his collection The Nursery Rhymes of England, among a group of riddles, with the answer given in brackets as Currants. A riddle that gives clues to the first and second parts of a word, here a dog and some insects, was called a charade.
The words higgledy piggledy begin several other English rhymes. The best known is a different rhyme about a black hen, Hickety Pickety, My Black Hen, which some people say as Higgledy Piggledy.
Learning Activities
- Solve it together: read the riddle, then let the children guess before the clues are explained.
- Clue words: write cur on one card and ants on another, then bring the cards together and read the new word aloud.
- Make a riddle: try a word that splits into two small words, such as a pancake or a butterfly, and write one clue for each half.
- Fruit tasting: look at fresh or dried currants and talk about where they grow.