A Wise Old Owl

= A Wise Old Owl =

...

"A Wise Old Owl" is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 7734 and in The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, 2nd Ed. of 1997, as number 394. The rhyme is an improvement of a traditional nursery rhyme "There was an owl lived in an oak, wisky, wasky, weedle."

'''Lyrics '''

This version was first published in Punch, April 10, 1875, and ran as follows:

One version was published upon bookmarks during the mid-1930s, and goes as follows:'''History '''The rhyme refers to the traditional image of owls as the symbol of wisdom. It was recorded as early as 1875 and is apparently older than that.[2] It was quoted by John D. Rockefeller in 1915[1] and is frequently misattributed to Edward Hersey Richards and William R. Cubbage.[3][4][5]

During World War II, the United States army used the rhyme on a poster with the tweaked ending, "Soldier.... be like that old bird!" with the caption "Silence means security."[6]'''Notes '''
 * 1) I. Opie and P. Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), p. 403.
 * 2) "World War II Poster: Wise Old Owl Sat in an Oak". About, Inc. Retrieved 2007-04-11.
 * 1) "World War II Poster: Wise Old Owl Sat in an Oak". About, Inc. Retrieved 2007-04-11.
 * 1) "World War II Poster: Wise Old Owl Sat in an Oak". About, Inc. Retrieved 2007-04-11.
 * 1) "World War II Poster: Wise Old Owl Sat in an Oak". About, Inc. Retrieved 2007-04-11.
 * 1) "World War II Poster: Wise Old Owl Sat in an Oak". About, Inc. Retrieved 2007-04-11.