Notes

This rhyme is an adaptation of the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. (You can hear the whole poem in the mp3 recording.) Here's the full poem:

THERE WAS A LITTLE GIRL
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

There was a little girl,
And she had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good
She was very, very good,
And when she was bad she was horrid.
One day she went upstairs,
When her parents, unawares,
In the kitchen were occupied with meals,
And she stood upon her head
In her little trundle-bed,
And then began hooraying with her heels.
Her mother heard the noise,
And she thought it was the boys
A-playing at a combat in the attic;
But when she climbed the stair,
And found Jemima there,
She took and she did spank her most emphatic.

*****

Sandi and Larry sent me a 2nd verse to the version at the top of the page:

Then one day that little girl
Brushed away that little curl
Away from the middle of her forehead
Now she is good
She is very, very good
And nobody thinks she is horrid!

*****

Below is the version of the rhyme from The Little Mother Goose (1912), illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith. I haven't found this version anywhere else. It may be a version that was made up in the early 20th century. Some of the material in Jessie Willcox Smith's book is from the Good Housekeeping Magazine. It's possible it was written specifically for the magazine.

There was a little girl who wore a little hood,
And a curl down the middle of her forehead;
When she was good, she was very, very good,
But when she was bad, she was horrid.

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Recited by Clarica for Librivox.

Thanks and Acknowledgements

This rhyme and 1st illustration can be found in The Real Mother Goose (1916), illustrated by Blanche Fisher Wright. The 2nd illustration is from The Little Mother Goose (1912), illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith. Thanks to Sandi and Larry for sending a 2nd verse.

Thanks so much!