188 Rhymes and Jingles
and expression or not, there are at the present time extended variations of the tale. The best of these is the following:—
Over the hills and a good way off,
A woodchuck died with the whooping-cough.
The thunders rolled, the lightnings flashed,
And broke grandma’s teapot all to smash—down cellar.
When you have the baby in your lap, you can amuse it by saying,—
“Pat a cake, pat a cake, baker’s man.”
“So I will, master, as fast as I can.”
“Roll it, roll it, roll it,
Prick it, prick it, prick it,
Toss it up in the oven and bake it.”
You at the same time take the baby’s hands in yours, and pat them together to suit the two first lines, rub them against each other to suit the third, take one finger and dig it into the palm of the other hand to suit the fourth, and toss both hands up, and the baby too if you choose, to suit the final line. Then, if the baby is anything like the babies
