The Quarrelsome Kittens Lyrics
Two kittens fight over one mouse on a stormy night, get swept out into the snow, and creep back in, having learned that sleeping beats squabbling.
The Quarrelsome Kittens
Two little kittens one stormy night,
They began to quarrel and they began to fight;
One had a mouse and the other had none,
And that's the way the quarrel begun.
"I'll have that mouse," said the biggest cat.
"You'll have that mouse? we'll see about that!"
"I will have that mouse," said the eldest son.
"You sha'n't have the mouse," said the little one.
I told you before 't was a stormy night
When these two little kittens began to fight;
The old woman seized her sweeping broom,
And swept the two kittens right out of the room.
The ground was covered with frost and snow,
And the two little kittens had nowhere to go;
So they laid them down on the mat at the door,
While the old woman finished sweeping the floor.
Then they crept in, as quiet as mice,
All wet with the snow, and as cold as ice,
For they found it was better, that stormy night,
To lie down and sleep than to quarrel and fight.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/the-quarrelsome-kittens/
- Type
- Animal Rhymes
- Tune
- Spoken with a growly voice for the fight and a hush for the end
- Best for ages
- 3 to 7 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| They began to quarrel and they began to fight | Make two cross kitten faces at each other. |
| The old woman seized her sweeping broom | Make big sweeping arm movements across the floor. |
| To lie down and sleep than to quarrel and fight | Curl up small on the floor and close your eyes. |
What Does The Quarrelsome Kittens Mean?
The rhyme is a tiny story with a beginning, a middle and a lesson. Two kittens want the same mouse. They argue in turns, one voice saying I'll have that mouse, the other answering that it shall not. The old woman has had enough and sweeps them out of the room.
Outside there is frost and snow and nowhere to go, so the kittens lie down on the mat by the door. When they creep back in, quiet as mice and cold as ice, they find that lying down to sleep is better than a quarrel. The ending is kind: nobody is punished for long.
History and Origin
Walter Jerrold included the rhyme in The Big Book of Nursery Rhymes (1903) under the title The Quarrelsome Kittens. The same story, with the same opening lines, is also found in National Rhymes of the Nursery as Two Little Kittens, One Stormy Night, which shows it was passed around in more than one collection.
The speaker even steps in halfway through with the line I told you before 't was a stormy night, as a storyteller would when the tale has gone back to its starting point.
Learning Activities
- Two voices: two children speak the kittens' lines to each other, one loud and one small, then both go quiet at the end.
- Share the mouse: give two toy kittens one toy mouse and think of a way that both can enjoy it.
- Stormy night sounds: tap fingers on a table for rain and rub palms together for wind before reading the last verse softly.