17
TICK, TOCK

Tick, tock! Tick, tock!

Forty 'leven by the clock.

Tick, tock! Tick, tock!

Put your ear to Grandpa's ticker,

Like a pancake, only thicker.

Tick, tock! Tick, tock!

Catch a squirrel in half a minute,

Grab a sack and stick him in it.

Tick, tock! Tick, tock!

Mister Bunny feeds on honey,

Tea, and taters—ain't it funny?

Tick, tock! Tick, tock!

When he goes to bed at night,

Shoves his slippers out of sight;

That is why Old Fox, the sinner,

Had to go without his dinner.

Tick, tock! Tick, tock!

So says Grandpa's clock.

 

[NOTES] This rhyme is about the sound a clock makes. The child is learning time and says forty 'leven which is 40 minutes after 11 o'clock. She listens to her grandfather's time piece and says she can get a squirrel in 30 seconds, which is half a minute. The rhyme does not tell a story. A fox does not wear slippers and is not a sinner. The words rhyme and that is why they are put together. They sound good to children.

tick, tock—the sound a time piece (clock or watch) makes

forty 'leven—forty minutes past eleven o'clock

ticker—watch or clock

pancake—fried flat bread

thicker—fatter

sack—cotton bag

to stick—to put

taters—potatoes

to shove—to push

slippers—night shoes for inside the house

sinner—person who has done something bad