Up Hill and Down Dale Lyrics
Before butter came in packets, it was made by hand in every farmhouse, and rhymes like this one were said while the churn went up and down.
Up Hill and Down Dale
Up hill and down dale;
Butter is made in every vale,
And if that Nancy Cook
Is a good girl,
She shall have a spouse,
And make butter anon,
Before her old grandmother
Grows a young man.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/up-hill-and-down-dale/
- Type
- Mother Goose
- Tune
- Spoken rhyme
- Best for ages
- 3 to 8 years
What Does Up Hill and Down Dale Mean?
A dale is a valley and a vale is the same thing, so butter is being made all over the countryside. If Nancy Cook behaves, she will have a spouse (a husband) and make butter anon, meaning soon. The last two lines are a joke about something that will never happen: her grandmother turning into a young man.
History and Origin
James Orchard Halliwell printed the rhyme in The Nursery Rhymes of England in the 1840s. Butter was churned by plunging a wooden dasher up and down in a tall churn, often for half an hour or more, and short rhymes helped keep the rhythm and pass the time.
Learning Activities
- Make butter: shake cream in a closed jar for about ten minutes until butter forms, saying the rhyme as you shake.
- Hill and valley: stretch up on "up hill" and crouch on "down dale".