A neat riddle rhyme that plays on the sound of 'pairs' and 'pears', with twelve knights each taking a pear and a dozen still left hanging. Short enough to recite twice before a child spots the trick.
From Mother Goose / Nursery Rhymes (traditional). See the whole collection.
Twelve pairs hanging high,
Twelve knights riding by,
Each knight took a pear,
And yet left a dozen there.
About this rhyme
Text: 'Twelve pairs hanging high... Each knight took a pear, And yet left a dozen there' - 12 pairs = 24 pears; 12 taken leaves 12.
This is a riddle rhyme, built on a play of words: twelve pairs of pears hanging high, and when twelve knights each help themselves to just one, a dozen are somehow still left. The trick is in the title, pairs and pears, sound-alike words that mean something different once you start counting. Ask what it's really describing before deciding together.
Public domain. Text from The Real Mother Goose (Blanche Fisher Wright, 1916), via Project Gutenberg. View the source edition