by Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830 - 1894)
What does the donkey bray about?
Language: English
What does the donkey bray about? What does the pig grunt through his snout? What does the goose mean by a hiss? Oh, Nurse, if you can tell me this, I'll give you such a kiss. The cockatoo calls "cockatoo," The magpie chatters "how d'ye do?" The jackdaw bids me "go away," Cuckoo cries "cuckoo" half the day: What do the others say?
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830 - 1894), no title, appears in Sing-song: a nursery rhyme book, first published 1872 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Udo Kasemets (1919 - 2014), "What do they say?", published 1964 [ medium voice and piano ], from Five songs for children [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-01-02
Line count: 10
Word count: 64