Out of the Shell Lyrics
A duckling that has just broken out of its egg talks about the house it has left. It could not stand up or sit down and lay all cramped, and it says its parents will not get it back in there soon.
Out of the Shell
Well, I'm out, after all!
And I'll say, on my word,
That's a pretty mean house
For a duck of a bird!
Why, I couldn't stand up,
And I couldn't sit down,
But I lay in a cramp
From my toes to my crown.
My good mammy and dad
May have thought me a spoon,
But they'll not get me back
In that thing very soon.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/out-of-the-shell/
- Type
- Poems for Children, Animal Rhymes
- Written by
- Mary Mapes Dodge
- Tune
- A cheeky, crowing voice, grumbling at first, then proud by the final lines
- Best for ages
- 3 to 7 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| Well, I'm out, after all! | Crouch into a ball, then burst up with your arms flung wide. |
| But I lay in a cramp | Tuck your elbows and knees in tight, then wriggle. |
What Does Out of the Shell Mean?
The speaker is a duckling, and the whole poem is its first speech. It has just come out of the shell, and it tells the world, Well, I'm out, after all! It was a tight fit inside: it couldn't stand up and couldn't sit down, and it lay cramped from its toes to the crown of its head. That is why it calls the egg a pretty mean house, where mean means poor and small.
The last verse has a joke in an old word. The duckling says its mammy and dad may have thought me a spoon. In older slang a spoon was a simpleton, a silly person (see Wiktionary on spoon), so the duckling suspects its parents took it for a fool. It answers by promising that they will not get it back inside the shell soon. The phrase a duck of a bird is a play on the word: the speaker is a duck, and also a bird that deserves better lodging.
History and Origin
Mary Mapes Dodge's book Rhymes and Jingles, copyrighted in 1874, holds this poem. Its title page names her as the author of Hans Brinker.
Learning Activities
- Hatching game: the child curls up under a blanket as the egg and bursts out on the first line.
- Duckling talk: ask what else the duckling might say now it is free, and let the child answer in a squeaky voice.
- Cramped or roomy?: try lying in a very small space such as a box, then stretch out in a big one, and compare how it feels.
- Draw the egg: draw a cracked egg with a duckling peeping out, with a speech bubble for its first words.