One of the best-known nursery rhymes in English, built around a pie full of singing blackbirds and a royal household going about its day. The tune and rhythm are irresistible, though the final image, of a blackbird snapping at the maid, might raise an eyebrow.
From Mother Goose / Nursery Rhymes (traditional). See the whole collection.
Sing a song of sixpence,
A pocket full of rye;
Four-and-twenty blackbirds
Baked in a pie!
When the pie was opened
The birds began to sing;
Was not that a dainty dish
To set before the king?
The king was in his counting-house,
Counting out his money;
The queen was in the parlor,
Eating bread and honey.
The maid was in the garden,
Hanging out the clothes;
When down came a blackbird
And snapped off her nose.
Public domain. Text from The Real Mother Goose (Blanche Fisher Wright, 1916), via Project Gutenberg. View the source edition