I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly

I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly

an old folksong

I know an old lady who swallowed a fly.

I don’t know why she swallowed a fly. Perhaps she’ll die.

I know an old lady who swallowed a spider, That wriggled and jiggled and
tickled inside her. She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.

I don’t know why she swallowed the fly.

Perhaps she’ll die.

I know an old lady who swallowed a bird.

How absurd to swallow a bird.

She swallowed the bird to catch the spider

That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her.

She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.

I don’t know why she swallowed the fly.

Perhaps she’ll die.

I know an old lady who swallowed a cat.

Imagine that! She swallowed a cat!

She swallowed the cat to catch the bird.

She swallowed the bird to catch the spider

That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her.

She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.

I don’t know why she swallowed the fly.

Perhaps she’ll die.

I know an old lady who swallowed a dog.

Oh what a hog to swallow a dog.

She swallowed the dog to catch the cat.

She swallowed the cat to catch the bird.

She swallowed the bird to catch the spider

That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her.

She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.

I don’t know why she swallowed the fly.

Perhaps she’ll die.

I know an old lady who swallowed a goat. Opened her throat and swallowed
a goat. She swallowed the goat to catch the dog. She swallowed the dog
to catch the cat. She swallowed the cat to catch the bird. She swallowed
the bird to catch the spider That wriggled and jiggled and tickled
inside her. She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.

I don’t know why she swallowed the fly. Perhaps she’ll die.

I know an old lady who swallowed a cow.

I don’t know how she swallowed a cow.

She swallowed the cow to catch the goat.

She swallowed the goat to catch the dog.

She swallowed the dog to catch the cat.

She swallowed the cat to catch the bird.

She swallowed the bird to catch the spider

That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her.

She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.

I don’t know why she swallowed the fly.

Perhaps she’ll die.

I know an old lady who swallowed a horse.

She died, of course!

One morning in Maine, Sal woke up. She peeked over the top of the
covers. The bright sunlight made her blink, so she pulled the covers up
and was just about to go back to sleep when she remembered “today is the
day I am going to Buck’s Harbor with my father!”

Sal pushed back the covers, hopped out of bed, put on her robe and
slippers, and hurried out into the hall.

There was little Jane, just coming out of her room.