Cover of Master I Have

Master I Have

Traditional

ages 2 to 5nursery rhymesread aloudabout 22 seconds aloud

A galloping nonsense rhyme built largely from made-up words like gamberally and niggledy piggledy. The fun is entirely in the sound and speed of it, not in the sense.

From Mother Goose / Nursery Rhymes (traditional). See the whole collection.

Master I have, and I am his man,
    Gallop a dreary dun;
Master I have, and I am his man,
    And I'll get a wife as fast as I can;
With a heighty gaily gamberally,
    Higgledy piggledy, niggledy, niggledy,
    Gallop a dreary dun.

About this rhyme

A nonsense rhyme kept alive mostly by its sound: "heighty gaily gamberally, higgledy piggledy, niggledy niggledy" is there to be enjoyed rather than understood.

Children often love the tongue-twisting refrain long before they work out what the rhyme is about.

Public domain. Text from The Real Mother Goose (Blanche Fisher Wright, 1916), via Project Gutenberg. View the source edition

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