Two brothers nearly come to blows over a broken rattle until a monstrous crow startles them out of it, followed by an unrelated snippet about two old women stuck up an apple tree. It's a rhyme in two odd halves, better known today for lending its names to Lewis Carroll's pair in Through the Looking-Glass.
From Mother Goose / Nursery Rhymes (traditional). See the whole collection.
Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee
Resolved to have a battle,
For Tweedle-dum said Tweedle-dee
Had spoiled his nice new rattle.
Just then flew by a monstrous crow,
As big as a tar barrel,
Which frightened both the heroes so,
They quite forgot their quarrel.
OH, DEAR!
Dear, dear! what can the matter be?
Two old women got up in an apple-tree;
One came down, and the other stayed till Saturday.
About this rhyme
Roud 19800 · Names first appear in print, 1725
The names are older than the rhyme. They first appear in print in 1725, in an epigram by the Manchester poet John Byrom, who was poking fun at two rival composers, Handel and Bononcini. Byrom claimed their music was so alike he couldn't tell Tweedle-dum from Tweedle-dee. The little tale of the battle over a spoiled rattle, broken up by a crow as big as a barrel, grew up around the names later. Lewis Carroll then borrowed the pair for Through the Looking-Glass in 1871.
Good for two. Set two children, or your own two hands, squaring up for their battle. Then sweep a hand overhead as the crow flies by, so both of them jump and forget the whole thing.
Public domain. Text from The Real Mother Goose (Blanche Fisher Wright, 1916), via Project Gutenberg. View the source edition