SING a song of six pence, 

   A bag full of rye'

Four and twenty blackbirds

   Baked in a pie;



When the pie was opened

   The birds began to sing;

Was not that a dainty dish

   To set before a king?



The king was in his counting-house

   Counting out his money; 

The queen was in the parlor

   Eating bread and honey;



The maid was in the garden

   Hanging out the clothes, 

There came a little blackbird,

   And snapt off her nose



Jenny was so mad, 

   She didn't know what to do;

She put her finger in her ear, 

   And crackt it right in two. 

Halliwell, James Orchard, Comp. Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Tales of England. London, England: Frederick Warne and Co., 1853, p. 36. No. CXXXVIII

SING a song of sixpence, 

   A pocket full of rye; 

Four and twenty blackbirds,

   Baked in a pie;



When the pie was open'd, 

   The birds began to sing; 

Was not that a dainty dish, 

   To set before the king?



The king was in his counting-house, 

   Counting out his money; 

The queen was in the parlour, 

   Eating bread and honey.



The maid was in the garden, 

   Hanging out the clothes; 

Down came a blackbird, 

   And pecked off her nose.

Old Nurse's Book: Of Rhymes, Jingles and Ditties. Ed. and Illus. by Charles H. Bennett. London, England: Griffith and Farran, 1857. [Facsimile edition reproduced from The Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books. Toronto Public Library by Holp Shuppan, Publishers, Tokyo 1981.] p.37.

Sing a song of sixpence, 

   A pocket full of rye, 

Four and twenty blackbirds, 

   Baked in a pie.

When the pie was opened, 

   The birds began to sing; 

Was not this a dainty dish 

   To set before the king?



The king was in his counting-house, 

   Counting out his money; 

The queen was in the parlour, 

   Eating bread and honey;

The maid was in the garden, 

   Hanging out the clothes; 

By came a blackbird, 

   And pecked off her nose. 

Baring-Gould, Sabine. A Book of Nursery Songs and Rhymes. Illus. by Members of the Birmingham Art School under the direction of A. J. Gaskin. London, England: Methuen, 1895, pp. 52-54. No. XXXIX

SING a song of six pence, 

   A bag full of rye;

Four and twenty blackbirds

   Baked in a pie;



When the pie was open'd

   The birds began to sing;

Was not that a dainty dish

   To set before the king?



The king was in his counting-house

   Counting out his money; 

The queen was in the parlour

   Eating bread and honey;



The maid was in the garden

   Hanging out the clothes, 

There came a little blackbird,

   And snapt off her nose.

Lang, Andrew, Ed. The Nursery Rhyme Book. Illus. by L. Leslie Brooke. London, England: Frederick Warne and Co., 1897, p. 93.

Sing a song of sixpence, 

   A pocket full of rye; 

Four and twenty blackbirds,

   Baked in a pie.



When the pie was opened, 

   The birds began to sing; 

Was not that a dainty dish, 

   To set before the king?



The king was in his counting-house, 

   Counting out his money; 

The queen was in the parlour, 

   Eating bread and honey.



The maid was in the garden, 

   Hanging out the clothes, 

There came a little blackbird, 

   And snapped off her nose.

Opie, Iona and Peter Opie, Comps. The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1951, p.394. No. 486

Sing a Song of Sixpence, 

A bag full of Rye, 

Four and twenty 

Naughty boys, 

Bak'd in a Pye.



When the pie was opened, 

The birds began to sing; 

Was not that a dainty dish, 

To set before the king?



The king was in his counting-house, 

Counting out his money; 

The queen was in the parlor, 

Eating bread and honey.



The maid was in the garden, 

Hanging out the clothes, 

There came a little blackbird, 

And snapped off her nose. 

Baring-Gould, William S. and Cecil Baring-Gould, Eds. The Annotated Mother Goose: Nursery Rhymes Old and New. New York: Bramhall House, 1962, p. 26. No. 3