(no subject)

[nverland]

-Hickory Dickory Dock

Hickory, dickory, dock,
The mouse ran up the clock.
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down!
Hickory, dickory, dock.

Alternate:

Replace the line
"The mouse ran down!"
With
"And down he run"

Origins and meaning
The earliest recorded version of the rhyme is in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book, published in London about 1744, which uses the opening line: 'Hickere, Dickere Dock'.[1] The next recorded version in Mother Goose's Melody (c. 1765), uses 'Dickery, Dickery Dock'.[1]
The rhyme is thought by some commentators to have originated as a counting-out rhyme.[1] Westmoreland shepherds in the nineteenth century used the numbers 'Hevera' (8), 'Devera' (9) and 'Dick' (10).[1] (See Yan Tan Tethera)
Some reports claim that the rhyme was written by Oliver Goldsmith, in Dublin for a volume of nursery rhymes he was collecting.[4]