The Old Woman of Exeter Lyrics
Whenever visitors knock, this old woman of Exeter panics and locks up all her food so nobody can eat it. It is a five-line rhyme about the opposite of sharing.
The Old Woman of Exeter
There dwelt an old woman at Exeter;
When visitors came it sore vexed her,
So for fear they should eat,
She locked up all her meat,
This stingy old woman of Exeter.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/the-old-woman-of-exeter/
- Type
- Mother Goose
- Tune
- Spoken rhyme
- Best for ages
- 4 to 9 years
What Does The Old Woman of Exeter Mean?
The old woman hates having visitors, and it sore vexed her, meaning it annoyed her greatly. She is afraid they will eat her food, so she locks up all her meat, an old word that once meant food of any kind. The rhyme calls her what she is: stingy, meaning unwilling to share.
History and Origin
The limerick is printed in The Real Mother Goose (1916). Exeter is a cathedral city in Devon, in south-west England. Rhymes about mean or odd old people from real towns were a favorite way of teasing people about bad manners.
Learning Activities
- Sharing talk: how should we treat visitors? What could the old woman do instead?
- Tea party: set up a pretend tea party where everyone shares the snacks.
- Find Exeter: look for Devon and Exeter on a map of England.