On the Road to Tattletown Lyrics
A traveller on the road to Tattletown meets a string of impossible sights: a pig on a stand, a cabbage up a tree and a rabbit dancing with a banknote. The traveller is so curious that nothing will stop the journey.
On the Road to Tattletown
On the road to Tattletown
What is this I see?
A pig upon a pedestal,
A cabbage up a tree,
A rabbit cutting capers
With a twenty dollar bill
Now if I don't get to Tattletown
Then no one ever will.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/on-the-road-to-tattletown/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Written by
- Leroy F. Jackson
- Tune
- A walking rhythm with a question on line two, and a firm finish on the last couplet
- Best for ages
- 3 to 8 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| On the road to Tattletown | Walk on the spot, swinging your arms. |
| A rabbit cutting capers | Hop twice on the spot and wiggle your hands like ears. |
What Does On the Road to Tattletown Mean?
Everything on the road is in the wrong place. A pedestal is the tall stand that holds a statue, so a pig on a pedestal is a pig treated as a hero. A cabbage grows on the ground, not in a tree. To cut capers means to leap about playfully, and a rabbit doing so with a twenty dollar bill is the oddest sight of all, because a banknote is the last thing a rabbit would need.
The name Tattletown suggests a place where people tell tales, since to tattle means to tell about someone else's doings. The poem never says what the town is like, only that the traveller has made up their mind to reach it: "if I don't get to Tattletown, then no one ever will." The strange sights do not turn the traveller back.
History and Origin
Jackson published this rhyme in 1918, in a children's book from the Rand McNally company. The dollar bill points to American readers.
Learning Activities
- Draw the road: draw the pig, the cabbage and the rabbit along a long road, then add one more strange sight.
- Odd sights game: take turns saying, On the road to Tattletown I see, and add something that does not belong there.
- Find the rhymes: listen for see and tree, and bill and will, and clap on each pair.
- Walk the road: walk round the room and stop at each sight to act it out.