Two lines, one invitation to supper, and a joke about the modest meal on offer. Its brevity and bounce make it a favourite with the very youngest listeners.
From Mother Goose / Nursery Rhymes (traditional). See the whole collection.
Ladies and gentlemen come to supper—
Hot boiled beans and very good butter.
About this rhyme
Text confirms 'ladies and gentlemen come to supper, hot boiled beans and very good butter'.
This one reads like a supper call, ladies and gentlemen invited in for hot beans and butter, and it works as a rhyme mostly because of that sing-song invitation. There is no story beyond the words themselves, just an open invitation dressed up in rhyme.
Say it in a big, inviting voice, the way you'd call someone in for tea.
Public domain. Text from The Real Mother Goose (Blanche Fisher Wright, 1916), via Project Gutenberg. View the source edition