Simple Simon met a pieman
Going to the fair;
Says Simple Simon to the pieman:
"Let me taste your ware."
Says the pieman to Simple Simon,
"Show me first the penny."
Says Simple Simon to the pieman:
"Indeed I have not any."
Simple Simon went a-fishing
For to catch a whale--
All the water he had got
Was in his mother's pail.
Simple Simon went to look
If plums grew on a thistle;
He pricked his fingers very much,
Which made poor Simon whistle.
He went to catch a dicky bird,
And thought he could not fail
Because he'd got a little salt
To put upon it's tail.
Then Simple Simon went-a-hunting,
For to catch a hare.
He rode on a goat about the street,
But could not find one there.
Simon made a great snowball,
And brought it in to roast;
He laid it down before the fire,
And soon the ball was lost.
Simple Simon went a-skating
When the ice was thin,
And Simon was astonished quite
To find he tumbled in.
And Simon he would honey eat
Out of the mustard pot;
He bit his tongue until he cried:
"That was all the good he got."