A tongue-twisting nonsense rhyme about London merchants in fine scarlet coats, kept moving by its galloping opening line, 'Hey diddle dinkety poppety pet.' Useful for building rhythm and clear articulation.
From Mother Goose / Nursery Rhymes (traditional). See the whole collection.
Hey diddle dinkety poppety pet,
The merchants of London they wear scarlet,
Silk in the collar and gold in the hem,
So merrily march the merchant men.
About this rhyme
Text matches exactly: scarlet, silk in the collar, gold in the hem, merchants march merrily.
The nonsense opening, 'hey diddle dinkety poppety pet,' gives way to something almost like a fashion note: London merchants dressed in scarlet, silk at the collar, gold at the hem. It's a marching rhyme really, all rhythm and finery, built for strutting rather than sense. Say the opening line fast and let the strut slow it down.
Public domain. Text from The Real Mother Goose (Blanche Fisher Wright, 1916), via Project Gutenberg. View the source edition