Sonny

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A sailor gave his sonny
Nearly half a pint of money
And sent him out to buy a ton of coal;
But he met a poor old miser
Who told him it were wiser
To bury all his money in a hole.

A sailor gave his sonny
Nearly half a pint of money
And told him he should buy a suit of clothes;
But he saw a pretty maiden
With all kinds of posies laden,
And he gave her all his money for a rose.

Then the sailor gave his sonny
Nearly half a pint of money
To buy a little garden and a house;
But he found him the next day,
In a shop on Yesler Way,
A-buying cheese and crackers for a mouse.

First published in The Peter Patter Book of Nursery Rhymes (1918).

This one plays like a comic parable — a father’s good intentions meeting a boy’s cheerful foolishness at every turn. Each time, Sonny’s sent off to do something sensible, and each time he finds a more delightful way to waste it all.

Blanche Fisher Wright’s illustration shows the first of these “business deals” — the boy and the old miser deep in conversation, both looking terribly pleased with themselves. You can almost hear the sailor sigh somewhere offstage, wondering why he keeps trying. The rhyme laughs gently at that eternal truth: when you give a child a bit of responsibility, expect an adventure instead.