Four short rhymes bundled together: the Man in the Moon burning his mouth on porridge, a counting game about love, a bat invited in for bacon, and dogs barking at beggars coming to town. Each is brief enough to know by heart and different enough to keep a young listener guessing what comes next.
From Mother Goose / Nursery Rhymes (traditional). See the whole collection.
The Man in the Moon came tumbling down,
And asked the way to Norwich;
He went by the south, and burnt his mouth
With eating cold pease porridge.
ONE, HE LOVES
One, he loves; two, he loves;
Three, he loves, they say;
Four, he loves with all his heart;
Five, he casts away.
Six, he loves; seven, she loves;
Eight, they both love.
Nine, he comes; ten, he tarries;
Eleven, he courts; twelve, he marries.
BAT, BAT
Bat, bat,
Come under my hat,
And I'll give you a slice of bacon;
And when I bake
I'll give you a cake
If I am not mistaken.
HARK! HARK!
Hark, hark! the dogs do bark!
Beggars are coming to town:
Some in jags, and some in rags,
And some in velvet gown.
Public domain. Text from The Real Mother Goose (Blanche Fisher Wright, 1916), via Project Gutenberg. View the source edition