Milking-Pails Lyrics
A line of daughters asks their mother to buy milking-pails. Mother asks where the money will come from, and the answers get sillier and sillier until Mother chases them all.
Milking-Pails
"Will you buy me a pair of milking-pails,
Oh, mother! Oh, mother?
Will you buy me a pair of milking-pails,
Oh, gentle mother of mine?"
"Where is the money to come from,
Oh, daughter! Oh, daughter?
Where is the money to come from,
Oh, gentle daughter of mine?"
"Where shall your father sleep?"
"Sleep in the servant's bed."
"Where shall the servant sleep?"
"Sleep in the stable."
"Where shall the pigs sleep?"
"In the wash-tub."
"Where shall we wash the clothes?"
"Wash them in the river."
"What if they should swim away?"
"You can jump in and go after them."
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/milking-pails/
- Type
- Action Songs
- Tune
- Sung chasing game
- Best for ages
- 5 to 10 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| Will you buy me a pair of milking-pails | The line of daughters holds hands and walks toward Mother, then back. |
| Where is the money to come from | Mother walks toward the line and back. |
| You can jump in and go after them | Mother chases the daughters. The first one caught becomes Mother. |
What Does Milking-Pails Mean?
Milking-pails are the buckets used to milk a cow. The daughters want a pair, but Mother has no money. The talk then turns into a silly chain: if Father sleeps in the servant's bed, where will the servant sleep? In the stable. And the pigs? In the wash-tub. Then where do we wash the clothes? In the river. And if the clothes float away? The cheeky answer is that Mother can jump in after them, which is the signal for the chase.
History and Origin
William Wells Newell printed the game in Games and Songs of American Children (1883). He learned it from children newly arrived from England, where it was a favorite, and had heard of it in West Virginia. Similar question-and-answer chains appear in many old games.
Learning Activities
- Play it: one player is Mother, the rest stand in a line holding hands, and the first one caught is the next Mother.
- Silly chain: make up your own: where shall the cat sleep? Where shall the dog sleep?
- Farm talk: look at pictures of old milking-pails and stools and talk about how cows were milked by hand.