Mind your punctuation…
I saw a peacock with a fiery tail,
I saw a blazing comet drop down hail,
I saw a cloud wrapped with ivy round,
I saw an oak creep upon the ground,
I saw a pismire* swallow up a whale,
I saw the sea brimful of ale,
I saw a Venice glass full fifteen feet deep,
I saw a well full of men's tears that weep,
I saw red eyes all of a flaming fire,
I saw a house bigger than the moon and higher,
I saw the sun at twelve o'clock at night,
I saw the man that saw this wondrous sight.
Notes
*A pismire is an ant. Another version of this rhyme has it as, "I saw a snail swallow up a whale" (cf. The Little Mother Goose (1912), illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith).
See the answer to this riddle below...
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The answer is to "mind your punctuation". Check it out with some added commas and with the lines broken differently...
I saw a peacock,
With a fiery tail, I saw a blazing comet,
Drop down hail, I saw a cloud,
Wrapped with ivy round, I saw an oak,
Creep upon the ground, I saw a pismire,
Swallow up a whale, I saw the sea,
Brimful of ale, I saw a Venice glass,
Full fifteen feet deep, I saw a well,
Full of men's tears that weep, I saw red eyes,
All of a flaming fire, I saw a house,
Bigger than the moon and higher, I saw the sun,
At twelve o'clock at night I saw the man that saw this wondrous sight!
Thanks and Acknowledgements
This rhyme can be found in The Nursery Rhyme Book, edited by Andrew Lang and illustrated by L. Leslie Brooke (1897).
Thanks to Lila Pomerantz for the drawing!
