Young Lambs to Sell Lyrics
Long before shops had windows full of toys, street sellers walked through London calling out their goods. This rhyme is one of those calls, from a seller of toy lambs.
Young Lambs to Sell
If I'd as much money as I could tell,
I never would cry young lambs to sell;
Young lambs to sell, young lambs to sell;
I never would cry young lambs to sell.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/young-lambs-to-sell/
- Type
- Animal Rhymes
- Tune
- Street cry
- Best for ages
- 3 to 8 years
What Does Young Lambs to Sell Mean?
The seller says that if he had as much money as he could count ("as I could tell"), he would never have to walk the streets crying "young lambs to sell". The lambs were not real animals but small toys, often made of white wool or cotton with little ribbons, sold to children for a penny or two.
History and Origin
Street cries were the advertising of old London. Sellers of milk, matches, muffins and toys each had a call, and collections of these cries were printed as picture books for children in the 1700s and 1800s. The toy-lamb seller was a well-known figure in them. This version is from The Real Mother Goose (1916).
Learning Activities
- Market stall: set up a pretend stall and let your child call out the rhyme to sell toy animals.
- Make a lamb: glue cotton wool onto a paper lamb shape.
- Old and new: compare street cries with modern ways of selling things, like shop signs and adverts.