Here's a longer version of this rhyme that I found in A History of Nursery Rhymes (1899) by Percy B. Green:

Dickery, dickery, dock,
The mouse ran up the clock,
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down,
Dickery, dickery, dock.
The clock struck three,
The mouse ran away,
Dickery, dickery, dock.
The clock struck ten,
The mouse came again,
Dickery, dickery, dock.

Here's a version from Denslow's Mother Goose (published in 1901, New York):

Hickety; dickety, dock,
The mouse ran up the clock;
The clock struck one,
Down the mouse ran,
Hickety, dickety, dock.

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Andrew Lang, author of The Nursery Rhyme Book (1897), wrote: "'Hickory Dickory Dock' is a rhyme for counting out a lot of children. The child on whom the last word falls has to run after the others in the game of 'Tig' [note: same as tag] or 'Chevy.'"

[Note: Chevy is a game that's also called Prisoner's Base where there are two teams that try to tag their opponents and take them to their own "base".]

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The illustration comes from The Baby's Opera by Walter Crane (circa 1877), with a little graphical editing by Mama Lisa.

Many thanks to Sarina and Lila for singing this for us!

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