Wee Willie Winkie
"Wee Willie Winkie" is a Scottish nursery rhyme, whose titular figure has become popular the world over as a personification of sleep. The poem, written by William Miller and titled Willie Winkie, was first published in Whistle-binkie: Stories for the Fireside in 1841.
“Wee Willie Winkie rins through the toon,
Up stairs an' doon stairs in his nicht-gown,
Tirlin' at the window, crying at the lock,
"Are the weans in their bed, for it's now ten o'clock?"
"Hey, Willie Winkie, are ye comin' ben?
The cat's singin grey thrums to the sleepin hen,
The dog's speldert on the floor and disna gie a cheep,
But here's a waukrife laddie, that wunna fa' asleep."
Onything but sleep, you rogue, glow'ring like the moon,
Rattling in an airn jug wi' an airn spoon,
Rumblin', tumblin' roon about, crawin' like a cock,
Skirlin like a kenna-what, waukenin' sleepin' fock.
"Hey Willie Winkie, the wean's in a creel,
Wamblin' aff a bodie's knee like a verra eel,
Ruggin' at the cat's lug and raveling a' her thrums-
Hey Willie Winkie - see there he comes."
Wearit is the mither that has a stoorie wean,
A wee, stumpie, stousie, that canna rin his lane,
That has a battle aye wi' sleep afore he'll close an e'e-
But a kiss frae aff his rosy lips gies strength anew to me.”
More nursery rhymes
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Little Betty BlueA carrion crow sat on an oakThe young linnetsAs I was going along, long, longTommy kept a chandler's shopAs I went to BonnerTo market, to market, a gallop, a …I had a little hobby horseRide a cock-horseThere was an old woman called Noth…Poor dog brightThere was a fat man of BombayThree wise men of GothamBah, bah, black sheep
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"Wee Willie Winkie Nursery rhyme." Rhymes.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 May 2024. <https://www.rhymes.com/nursery/101/wee-willie-winkie>.
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