Two short rhymes in one: a cheeky sparrow outwits a boy who wants to catch and eat him, followed by an old woman swept impossibly high in a basket to sweep cobwebs from the sky. Both lean on nonsense and quick escapes rather than real danger.
From Mother Goose / Nursery Rhymes (traditional). See the whole collection.
A little cock-sparrow sat on a green tree,
And he chirruped, he chirruped, so merry was he;
A naughty boy came with his wee bow and arrow,
Determined to shoot this little cock-sparrow.
"This little cock-sparrow shall make me a stew,
And his giblets shall make me a little pie, too."
"Oh, no," says the sparrow "I won't make a stew."
So he flapped his wings and away he flew.
OLD WOMAN, OLD WOMAN
There was an old woman tossed in a basket,
Seventeen times as high as the moon;
But where she was going no mortal could tell,
For under her arm she carried a broom.
"Old woman, old woman, old woman," said I,
"Whither, oh whither, oh whither so high?"
"To sweep the cobwebs from the sky;
And I'll be with you by-and-by."
Public domain. Text from The Real Mother Goose (Blanche Fisher Wright, 1916), via Project Gutenberg. View the source edition