Nest Eggs Lyrics
Children stand watching a mother bird sitting on four blue eggs in a laurel bush. Soon the eggs will crack, the chicks will fly up into the beech trees, and the children, older and taller, will still be on foot. Thirty-two lines by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Nest Eggs
Birds all the sunny day
Flutter and quarrel
Here in the arbour-like
Tent of the laurel.
Here in the fork
The brown nest is seated;
Four little blue eggs
The mother keeps heated.
While we stand watching her
Staring like gabies,
Safe in each egg are the
Bird's little babies.
Soon the frail eggs they shall
Chip, and upspringing
Make all the April woods
Merry with singing.
Younger than we are,
O children, and frailer,
Soon in the blue air they'll be,
Singer and sailor.
We, so much older,
Taller and stronger,
We shall look down on the
Birdies no longer.
They shall go flying
With musical speeches
High overhead in the
Tops of the beeches.
In spite of our wisdom
And sensible talking,
We on our feet must go
Plodding and walking.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/nest-eggs/
- Type
- Poems for Children, Animal Rhymes
- Written by
- Robert Louis Stevenson
- Tune
- Soft and watchful at first, then rising with the chicks and ending on the heavy walking line
- Best for ages
- 4 to 9 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| Four little blue eggs | Hold up four fingers, then curl them into a nest. |
| Chip, and upspringing | Tap your knuckles together twice, then spring both hands apart. |
| Plodding and walking | March on the spot with slow, heavy steps. |
What Does Nest Eggs Mean?
The poem begins at a laurel bush in spring (the woods are called "April woods" in verse four). Birds "flutter and quarrel" in a laurel, an evergreen shrub whose leaves make a tent-like shelter. In the fork of a branch is a brown nest with four little blue eggs, and the mother "keeps heated" the eggs, which means she sits on them to keep them warm. The children who watch her are "staring like gabies"; a gaby is a regional word for a simple or foolish person, here used for someone staring at the nest.
The middle of the poem is about what will happen. The "frail" eggs will "chip", and the chicks, "younger than we are, O children, and frailer", will fly in the blue air as "singer and sailor". Nest Eggs ends with a turn: the older, taller, stronger children "shall look down on the birdies no longer" because the birds will be high overhead "in the tops of the beeches". "In spite of our wisdom and sensible talking, we on our feet must go plodding and walking."
That last line is the heart of the poem: for all their size and cleverness, children cannot fly as the smallest bird can. The poem says it with a smile.
History and Origin
Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses came out in 1885. This poem shows a child watching a small piece of nature and drawing a lesson from it without a lecture. The rhymes are simple (singing with upspringing, frailer with sailor), so the poem can be read aloud smoothly.
The word arbour-like in the first verse means like a garden arbour, a shady shelter of branches. In the poem the laurel bush is a tent for the birds.
Learning Activities
- Look for a nest: in spring, look for a nest from a distance and watch quietly. Do not touch or go near it.
- Egg count: put four blue paper eggs in a paper nest, and at 'Chip, and upspringing' swap them for four paper birds.
- Older and slower: read the last verse, then ask the children what a bird can do that they cannot, and what they can do that a bird cannot.
- Draw the beech tops: make a picture with the nest low on the page and the chicks flying high above it.