Snail! snail! come out of your hole,
Or else I'll beat you as black as a coal.
Notes
*****
Below is the version from The Only True Mother Goose Melodies (Published and Copyrighted in Boston in 1833 by Munroe & Francis). I realize that this can sound brutal to today's ears...
Snail, Snail,
Come out of your hole,
Or else I'll beat you black as a coal.
Snail, Snail,
Put out your head,
Or else I'll beat you till you're dead.
*****
Here's another version from The Big Book of Nursery Rhymes (circa 1920) edited by Walter Jerrold:
Snail, snail, come out of
your hole,
Or else I'll beat you as
black as a coal.
Snail, snail, put out your
horns,
Here comes a thief to pull
down your walls.
Thanks and Acknowledgements
The first version of this rhyme can be found in Harry's Ladder to Learning (1850). The illustration is from The Only True Mother Goose Melodies (Published and Copyrighted in Boston in 1833 by Munroe & Francis).
