The Clocking-Hen
“Will you take a walk with me,
My little wife, today?
There’s barley in the barley-field,
And hay-seed in the hay.”
“Thank you,” said the Clocking-hen*;
“I’ve something else to do:
I’m busy sitting on my eggs,
I cannot walk with you.”
“Clock, clock, clock, clock,”
Said the Clocking-hen:
“My little chicks will soon be hatched,
I’ll think about it then.”
The Clocking-hen sat on her nest,
She made it in the hay;
And warm and snug beneath her breast
A dozen white eggs lay.
Crack, crack, went all the eggs,
Out dropt the chickens small!
“Clock,” said the Clocking-hen,
“Now I have you all.”
“Come along, my little chicks,
I’ll take a walk with you.”
“Hallo!” said the barn-door Cock,
“Cock-a-doodle-doo!”
by Aunt Effie: as published in Mary Wilder Tileston, editor: “Sugar and Spice and All That’s Nice: A Book of Nursery Rhymes and Verses” (1913), page 70
* A clocking or broody hen is a chicken that sits on her eggs all day for about three weeks, until the eggs are hatched into chicks, or baby chickens. Clocking is the sound made by a broody hen, being a loud clucking sound and a warning to stay away from the nest, the hen, and her eggs.
Jane Euphemia Saxby, also known by the pseudonym Aunt Effie, was born as Jane Euphemia Browne on 27 January 1811 in Bridekirk, Cumberland, England. She was married to Stephen Henry Saxby in 1862. She became a hymn writer and a poet. Her published works include, “The Dove on the Cross” (1849), “Aunt Effie’s Rhymes for Little Children” (1852), “The Voice of the Bird” (1875), and “Aunt Effie’s Gift to the Nursery” (1876). Jane Euphemia Saxby passed on at 87 years of age on 25 March 1898 in Bedminster, Somerset, England.
“Will you take a walk with me,
My little wife, today?
There’s barley in the barley-field,
And hay-seed in the hay.”
“Thank you,” said the Clocking-hen*;
“I’ve something else to do:
I’m busy sitting on my eggs,
I cannot walk with you.”
“Clock, clock, clock, clock,”
Said the Clocking-hen:
“My little chicks will soon be hatched,
I’ll think about it then.”
The Clocking-hen sat on her nest,
She made it in the hay;
And warm and snug beneath her breast
A dozen white eggs lay.
Crack, crack, went all the eggs,
Out dropt the chickens small!
“Clock,” said the Clocking-hen,
“Now I have you all.”
“Come along, my little chicks,
I’ll take a walk with you.”
“Hallo!” said the barn-door Cock,
“Cock-a-doodle-doo!”
by Aunt Effie: as published in Mary Wilder Tileston, editor: “Sugar and Spice and All That’s Nice: A Book of Nursery Rhymes and Verses” (1913), page 70
* A clocking or broody hen is a chicken that sits on her eggs all day for about three weeks, until the eggs are hatched into chicks, or baby chickens. Clocking is the sound made by a broody hen, being a loud clucking sound and a warning to stay away from the nest, the hen, and her eggs.
Jane Euphemia Saxby, also known by the pseudonym Aunt Effie, was born as Jane Euphemia Browne on 27 January 1811 in Bridekirk, Cumberland, England. She was married to Stephen Henry Saxby in 1862. She became a hymn writer and a poet. Her published works include, “The Dove on the Cross” (1849), “Aunt Effie’s Rhymes for Little Children” (1852), “The Voice of the Bird” (1875), and “Aunt Effie’s Gift to the Nursery” (1876). Jane Euphemia Saxby passed on at 87 years of age on 25 March 1898 in Bedminster, Somerset, England.
