The rhyme that sends a rocking horse off at a gallop, complete with rings, bells, and an old lady who has music wherever she goes. One of the best-known riding rhymes in the language, made for knee-bouncing.
A knee-bouncing rhyme: ride to Banbury Cross on a grown-up's knee.
From Mother Goose / Nursery Rhymes (traditional). See the whole collection.
Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross,
To see an old lady upon a white horse.
Rings on her fingers, and bells on her toes,
She shall have music wherever she goes.
How it's usually said today
Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross,
To see a fine lady upon a white horse.
Rings on her fingers, and bells on her toes,
She shall have music wherever she goes.
Traditional rhymes have no single fixed text. The main version on this page is as printed in our source edition; this one is the wording most people say today.
About this rhyme
Banbury is a market town in Oxfordshire · The cross standing today dates from 1859
Banbury is a real market town in Oxfordshire, and there really was a Banbury Cross: a medieval stone cross that Puritans pulled down around 1600, with the one standing today built in 1859. The rhyme was first printed in the late 1700s. A cock-horse is a hobby-horse, or a grown-up's knee doing the same job. People have tried to name the lady on the white horse as Elizabeth I or Lady Godiva, but there is no evidence for any of it.
This is a knee-bounce, and it needs no props. Sit your child on your knees, facing you, and jog them along like a little horse heading for Banbury. Jingle the rings on her fingers and bells on her toes by wiggling your child's fingers and toes. Slow down on the last line and let the ride come to a gentle stop.
Public domain. Text from The Real Mother Goose (Blanche Fisher Wright, 1916), via Project Gutenberg. View the source edition