Is John Smith Within? Lyrics
A knock at the blacksmith's door: is John Smith in? Can he put a new shoe on my horse? Yes, two, and here come the nails, tick, tack, too.
Is John Smith Within?
Is John Smith within?
Yes, that he is.
Can he set a shoe?
Ay, marry, two.
Here a nail, there a nail,
Tick, tack, too.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/is-john-smith-within/
- Type
- Action Songs, Mother Goose
- Tune
- Spoken rhyme
- Best for ages
- 1 to 5 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| Is John Smith within? | Knock on a table or on your child's foot. |
| Can he set a shoe? | Hold your child's foot like a horse's hoof. |
| Here a nail, there a nail | Tap the sole of the foot gently, once on each side. |
| Tick, tack, too | Three quick taps, then a tickle. |
What Does Is John Smith Within? Mean?
A smith, or blacksmith, worked with iron, and one of his main jobs was making horseshoes and nailing them onto horses' hooves. That is what setting a shoe means. The customer asks if John Smith can do one, and the answer is "Ay, marry, two": yes, indeed, two of them. Marry here is an old word meaning "indeed", not the wedding kind.
History and Origin
The rhyme is a foot-tapping game, one of the oldest kind of baby games, in which the grown-up pretends a child's foot is a horse's hoof being shod. It was already in nursery collections by the 1840s. Smith is the most common surname in England precisely because every village once needed a smith.
Learning Activities
- Foot game: tap your baby's feet gently on each nail, and finish with a tickle.
- Horseshoes: look at a real or toy horseshoe and count the nail holes.
- Surname jobs: for older children, talk about surnames that were once jobs: Smith, Baker, Cooper, Taylor.