Two Little Dickie Birds

"Two Little Dickie Birds" or "Two Little Black Birds" is an English language nursery rhyme and fingerplay. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 16401.

Lyrics

Modern versions of the rhyme include:

Two little dickie birds sitting on a wall.

One named Peter, one named Paul.

Fly away, Peter! Fly away, Paul!

Come back, Peter! Come back, Paul!

Origins

The rhyme was first recorded when published in Mother Goose's Melody in London around 1765. In this version the names of the birds were Jack and Gill:

There were two blackbirds

:Sat upon a hill,

The one was nam'd Jack,

:The other nam'd Gill;

Fly away Jack,

:Fly away Gill,

Come again Jack,

:Come again Gill.

This is accompanied by the maxim "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush".

These names seem to have been replaced with the apostles Peter and Paul in the 19th century.

Variants

In American English, the variant "Two Little Blackbirds" is more common.

Hand actions

The adult, out of sight of the child, will mark in some conspicuous way the nail of the index finger of one hand and the nail of the second finger of the other hand. Both hands are then shown to the child as fists (folded fingers downwards) with the two fingers with marked nails pointing forward – these represent Peter and Paul. As the rhyme is recited, the hand actions are:

References