There Was an Old Man, and He Had a Calf Lyrics
An old man, a calf, a stall and a wall. Then the rhyme announces that the story is already finished. A joke about stories that end before they start.
There Was an Old Man, and He Had a Calf
There was an old man,
And he had a calf,
And that's half;
He took him out of the stall,
And put him on the wall;
And that's all.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/there-was-an-old-man-and-he-had-a-calf/
- Type
- Mother Goose, Animal Rhymes
- Tune
- Spoken rhyme
- Best for ages
- 3 to 8 years
What Does There Was an Old Man, and He Had a Calf Mean?
The rhyme pretends to be a story, but it barely gets going. Halfway through, it says "and that's half", and after moving the calf onto a wall, it says "and that's all". The fun is the surprise ending: listeners wait for something to happen, and nothing does.
History and Origin
James Orchard Halliwell printed the rhyme in The Nursery Rhymes of England. Short "that's all" stories were a favorite way for grown-ups to tease children who begged for one more tale at bedtime.
Learning Activities
- Finish the story: let your child invent what happened next to the calf.
- Shortest story: take turns telling the shortest possible story.
- Calf facts: talk about calves and where they live on a farm.