FOR want of a nail, the shoe was lost;

   For want of a shoe, the horse was lost; 

For want of a horse, the rider was lost;

For want of a rider, the battle was lost;

For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost;

And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

Lang, Andrew, Ed. The Nursery Rhyme Book. Illus. by L. Leslie Brooke. London, England: Frederick Warne and Co., 1897, p. 84.

For want of a nail, the shoe was lost,

For want of a shoe, the horse was lost, 

For want of a horse, the rider was lost,

For want of a rider, the battle was lost,

For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost,

And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

Opie, Iona and Peter Opie, Comps. The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1951, p.324. No. 379

For want of a nail the shoe was lost,

For want of a shoe the horse was lost, 

For want of a horse the rider was lost,

For want of a rider the battle was lost, 

For want of a battle the kindgome was lost,

And all for the want of a horseshoe nail. 

Baring-Gould, William S. and Cecil Baring-Gould, Eds. The Annotated Mother Goose: Nursery Rhymes Old and New. New York: Bramhall House, 1962, p. 291. No. 786