A scarecrow's rhyme warning birds to take a little and leave the rest, paired with the ever-popular 'Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary' and her garden of silver bells. The bird-scarer verse is blunter than most modern rhymes about guarding crops.
From Mother Goose / Nursery Rhymes (traditional). See the whole collection.
Away, birds, away!
Take a little and leave a little,
And do not come again;
For if you do,
I will shoot you through,
And there will be an end of you.
MARY, MARY, QUITE CONTRARY
Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
Silver bells and cockle-shells,
And pretty maids all of a row.
About this rhyme
field rhyme
A shouting rhyme, the sort children once called out across fields and gardens to frighten birds off the crop. It gives fair warning before the threat that follows, best said loud and a little fierce rather than gentle. Clapping or stamping on the first line suits it well.
Public domain. Text from The Real Mother Goose (Blanche Fisher Wright, 1916), via Project Gutenberg. View the source edition