There was an old woman tossed up in a basket,
Nineteen times as high as the moon;
Where she was going I couldn't but ask it
For in her hand she carried a broom.
"Old woman, old woman, old woman, quoth I,
O whither, O whither, O whither so high?"
"To brush the cobwebs off the sky!"
"Shall I go with thee?" "Aye, by-and-by."
[Illustration: _From a Drawing by Arthur Rackham_
"Where she was going I couldn't but ask it,
For in her hand she carried a broom."]