A back-and-forth rhyme between two voices, built for a caller and an answerer. It celebrates a blacksmith at work, with the hammer's tick-tack sound built right into the words.
From Mother Goose / Nursery Rhymes (traditional). See the whole collection.
Is John Smith within?
Yes, that he is.
Can he set a shoe?
Ay, marry, two.
Here a nail, there a nail,
Tick, tack, too.
About this rhyme
A blacksmith's rhyme, built around the tap of a hammer driving nails into a shoe. The question-and-answer shape makes it easy to read as two voices.
Try tapping a rhythm on the table at "here a nail, there a nail", and let a child join in on "tick, tack, too".
Public domain. Text from The Real Mother Goose (Blanche Fisher Wright, 1916), via Project Gutenberg. View the source edition