A miniature romance and rejection: Robin nurses Jenny Wren back to health with cake and wine, only for her to turn him down flat once she's well, leaving him hurt and cross. It's a fuller story than most nursery rhymes, with real feeling behind the birds' quarrel.
From Mother Goose / Nursery Rhymes (traditional). See the whole collection.
Little Jenny Wren fell sick,
Upon a time;
In came Robin Redbreast
And brought her cake and wine.
"Eat well of my cake, Jenny,
Drink well of my wine."
"Thank you, Robin, kindly,
You shall be mine."
Jenny she got well,
And stood upon her feet,
And told Robin plainly
She loved him not a bit.
Robin being angry,
Hopped upon a twig,
Saying, "Out upon you! Fie upon you!
Bold-faced jig!"
About this rhyme
Chunk text is truncated after "told Robin plainly". The ending is not confirmed from the supplied source and needs checking against the full stored copy. · "You shall be mine" is spoken while Jenny is still sick, before her recovery, per the given text.
A small story rhyme in the tradition of birds nursing each other: Jenny Wren falls ill, Robin Redbreast brings her cake and wine, and while she's poorly she tells him he shall be hers. But the rhyme has a sting in the tail: in the standard version, once she's back on her feet she tells Robin plainly that she doesn't love him after all. It has more of a plot than most of the short rhymes here.
Suits a slower, storytelling read.
Public domain. Text from The Real Mother Goose (Blanche Fisher Wright, 1916), via Project Gutenberg. View the source edition