There Was a Lady Loved a Swine Lyrics
A lady offers a pig a silver sty and a silver pin. The pig answers every promise with a single grunt, and in the end he simply walks away.
There Was a Lady Loved a Swine
There was a lady loved a swine:
"Honey," quoth she,
"Pig-hog, wilt thou be mine?"
"Grunt," quoth he.
"I'll build thee a silver stye,
Honey," quoth she;
"And in it thou shall lie;"
"Grunt," quoth he.
"Pinned with a silver pin,
Honey," quoth she,
"That you may go out and in;"
"Grunt," quoth he.
"Wilt thou now have me,
Honey," quoth she;
"Grunt, grunt, grunt," quoth he,
And went his way.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/there-was-a-lady-loved-a-swine/
- Type
- Animal Rhymes
- Tune
- Spoken rhyme
- Best for ages
- 3 to 8 years
What Does There Was a Lady Loved a Swine Mean?
The joke is in the conversation. The lady speaks sweetly, calling the pig "honey" and promising him a silver sty to live in. The pig only ever says "grunt". Quoth is an old word for said, and a sty (spelled stye in the old text) is a pen for pigs. When she finally asks if he will have her, he grunts three times and goes on his way.
History and Origin
The rhyme is an old one, printed in Andrew Lang's The Nursery Rhyme Book (1897) and in earlier English collections. Walter Crane also illustrated it in The Baby's Opera (1877), with the lady in her finery and the pig looking entirely unimpressed. Its question-and-answer shape makes it a natural rhyme for two voices.
Learning Activities
- Two voices: an adult reads the lady's lines in a sweet voice, and the child does every "grunt".
- Pig puppets: make a paper-bag pig that nods on each grunt.
- What else could she offer? invent new promises and see if the pig still grunts.