Little Maid, Pretty Maid Lyrics
"Whither goest thou?" "Down in the forest to milk my cow." In four short lines, a girl on her way to work politely tells a stranger he cannot come along.
Little Maid, Pretty Maid
"Little maid, pretty maid, whither goest thou?"
"Down in the forest to milk my cow."
"Shall I go with thee?" "No, not now;
When I send for thee, then come thou."
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/little-maid-pretty-maid/
- Type
- Mother Goose
- Tune
- Spoken rhyme
- Best for ages
- 3 to 7 years
What Does Little Maid, Pretty Maid Mean?
Someone asks a young girl where she is going, and she answers that she is off to milk her cow in the forest. When he asks to come too, she says no, not now: she will send for him when she wants him. The old words need a little help: whither goest thou means "where are you going", and come thou means "you come".
It is a small lesson in saying no politely but firmly, which is a good thing for children to hear.
History and Origin
The rhyme is in Halliwell's collection of the 1840s and in most Mother Goose books since, including The Real Mother Goose (1916). It is a shorter cousin of Where Are You Going, My Pretty Maid?, in which another milkmaid gets the last word.
Learning Activities
- Call and answer: one child asks the questions and another answers as the maid, then swap.
- Saying no: practice polite ways to say "not now" to a friend.