One, Two, Buckle My Shoe

= One, Two, Buckle My Shoe =

...

"One, Two, Buckle My Shoe" is a popular English language nursery rhyme and counting-out rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 11284.

'''Lyrics A common version (from The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes) '''
 * One, two,
 * Buckle my shoe;
 * Three, four,
 * Shut the front door;
 * Five, six,
 * Pick up sticks;
 * Seven, eight,
 * Lay them straight:
 * Nine, ten,
 * A big fat hen;
 * Eleven, twelve,
 * Dig and delve;
 * Thirteen, fourteen,
 * Maids a-courting;
 * Fifteen, sixteen,
 * Maids in the kitchen;
 * Seventeen, eighteen,
 * Maids in waiting
 * Nineteen, twenty,
 * My plate is empty.[1]

'''Other versions Some sources give differing lyrics.[2]Origins and meaning '''The rhyme is one of many counting-out rhymes. It was first recorded in Songs for the Nursery, published in London in 1805. This version differed beyond the number twelve, with the lyrics:
 * Thirteen, fourteen, draw the curtain,
 * Fifteen sixteen, the maid's in the kitchen,
 * Seventeen, eighteen, she's in waiting,
 * Nineteen, twenty, my stomach's empty.[1]

A version published five years later in Gammer Gurton's Garland (1810) had the following different lines:
 * Three, four, Lay down lower ...
 * Eleven twelve, Who will delve...
 * Fifteen, sixteen, Maids a-kissing...
 * Nineteen, twenty, My Belly's empty.[1]

According to Henry Bolton, collector of counting rhymes in the 1880s, the rhyme was used in Wrentham, Massachusetts as early as 1780.[1]'''Notes '''
 * 1) I. Opie and P. Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), pp. 333-4.