Tom Tucker sings for his supper in the first half; a pretty milkmaid turns down a suitor with a sharp last line in the second. Two short, well-loved rhymes joined together, both built for back-and-forth reading.
From Mother Goose / Nursery Rhymes (traditional). See the whole collection.
Little Tom Tucker
Sings for his supper.
What shall he eat?
White bread and butter.
How will he cut it
Without e'er a knife?
How will he be married
Without e'er a wife?
WHERE ARE YOU GOING, MY PRETTY MAID
"Where are you going, my pretty maid?"
"I'm going a-milking, sir," she said.
"May I go with you, my pretty maid?"
"You're kindly welcome, sir," she said.
"What is your father, my pretty maid?"
"My father's a farmer, sir," she said.
"What is your fortune, my pretty maid?"
"My face is my fortune, sir," she said.
"Then I can't marry you, my pretty maid."
"Nobody asked you, sir," she said.
Public domain. Text from The Real Mother Goose (Blanche Fisher Wright, 1916), via Project Gutenberg. View the source edition