37
A BEETLE ONCE SAT ON A BARBERRY TWIG

A beetle once sat on a barberry twig,

And turned at the crank of a thingum-a-jig.

Needles for hornets, nippers for ants,

For the bumblebee baby a new pair of pants,

For the grizzled old gopher a hat and a wig,

The beetle ground out of his thingum-a-jig.

[NOTES] This rhyme is about a beetle that sits on the end of a tree and makes things. She makes the stinger for a bee. She makes the hands for an ant. She makes clothes for bees and a hat and a wig for an old animal that lives under ground.

barberry—fruit tree

twig—small wood part of a tree

crank—handle

th ingum-a-jig—word used when english speakers forget or do not know the real word for something

needles—stinger, the back of a bee that hurts

hornets—bees

nippers—fingers that close very hard

grizzled—grey coloured

gopher—animal that lives under the ground

wig—hat made of hair