ID: 1293
Date: 1998
Title: Once upon a time
Gender: Male 
Classification: Fun 
Rhyme: 

Once upon a time, the birds ate lime,
The monkeys chewed tobacco.
The man went past, with a shovel up his arse,
To see how far the wind blew.

(Ashburton, 1998)

--
 
Background Info: Turner, 1978:124:

Once upon a time,
Birds ate lime.
Monkeys chewed tobacco;
A pig ran by
With a finger in his eye
To see what was a-matter.

==

Opie, 1967:22:

Once upon a time, when birds ate lime,
And monkeys chewed tobacco.
The pigs took snuff to make them tough,
And that's the end of the matter.

==
 
Keywords: bawdy, nonsense 
Location: Ashburton 
Group size: 2 
Incidence: 1