No One at Home
No one at home in the hen-house,
And no one at home in the barn,
Old Brindle has gone to the neighbor’s
To borrow a skein of brown yarn,
To borrow yarn for the darning
Of socks for her wee spotted calf—
The little rollicking rascal
Has never enough by half.
And Speckle is down by the willow
Washing her chicks in the lake,
While old Daddy Cockle is lying
Abed with a bad toothache.
First published in The Peter Patter Book of Nursery Rhymes (1918).
There’s a wonderful touch of mischief in this little farmyard tale. Everyone seems to have slipped away from their proper posts — hens gone bathing, cows out borrowing yarn, and the rooster in bed with a toothache. It turns the barnyard upside down in the most cheerful way.
The rhyme works like a child’s version of gossip: quick, funny, and filled with tiny domestic details that make it feel alive. You can almost picture the calf bouncing around the yard, Brindle fretting about socks, and the chickens splashing where they shouldn’t.
