(Pick A Letter to Choose a Rhyme!)

 

Here's the version in the 1st mp3:

One, Two, buckle my shoe,
Three, Four, close the door,
Five, Six, pick up sticks,
Seven, Eight, lay them straight,
Nine, Ten, do it again.

•  MP3 Recording of One, Two, Buckle My Shoe

Here's the version in the 2nd mp3:

One, two, buckle my shoe;
Three, four, shut the door;
Five, six, pick up sticks.

•  Another MP3 Recording of One, Two, Buckle My Shoe

Notes

The version above is from The Only True Mother Goose Melodies (Published and Copyrighted in Boston in 1833 by Munroe & Francis).

Here's another version that can be found in A History of Nursery Rhymes by Percy B. Green (1899):

One, two, buckle my shoe;
Three, four, shut the door;
Five, six, pick up sticks;
Seven, eight, lay them straight;
Nine, ten, a good fat hen;
Eleven, twelve, who will delve?
Thirteen, fourteen, maids a-courting;
Fifteen, sixteen, maids in the kitchen;
Seventeen, eighteen, maids a-waiting;
Nineteen, twenty, my stomach's empty.

Here's another version that can be found in Harry's Ladder to Learning (1850):

One, two, buckle my shoe;
Three, four, shut the door;
Five, six, pick up sticks;
Seven, eight, lay them straight;
Nine, ten, a good fat hen;
Eleven, twelve, who will delve?
Thirteen, fourteen, draw the curtain;
Fifteen, sixteen, the maid's in the kitchen;
Seventeen, eighteen, she's a-waiting;
Nineteen, twenty, my plate's empty;
Please, mamma, give me some dinner.

Here's another version from The Little Mother Goose (1912):

One, two, buckle my shoe;
Three, four, shut the door;
Five, six, pick up sticks;
Seven, eight, lay them straight;
Nine, ten, a good fat hen;
Eleven, twelve, who will delve;
Thirteen, fourteen, maids a-courting;
Fifteen, sixteen, maids a-kissing;
Seventeen, eighteen, maids a-waiting;
Nineteen, twenty, my stomach's empty.

*****

Elsa sent another ending that she learned as a child from her mother. She wrote:

"My mom's version goes, "nineteen, twenty, we'll all have plenty!" (which seems to relate to the "big fat hen" that goes with "nine, ten," don't you think?) My mom grew up in western Pennsylvania in the 1920s and her mother was from the same area, north of Pittsburgh."

I think Elsa's ending is the best I've heard yet for this rhyme! -Mama Lisa

Comments

Check out Mama Lisa's World Blog for more versions of One, Two, Buckle My Shoe.

Henry Carrington Bolton wrote in his book, The Counting-out Rhymes of Children (1888), that this rhyme was used in England for counting-out (i.e. for choosing in children's games). I've also read that it's used for ball bouncing games. If anyone recalls using it either of these ways as a child, we'd love to hear about it. Please email me to let us know. -Mama Lisa

Thanks and Acknowledgements

The illustration is from The Little Mother Goose (1912), illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith.

Thanks to Elsa Peterson Obuchowski for sending an alternative ending!

1st recording by Mama Lisa.

2nd recording from Librivox's "Mother Goose's Party".