ID: 1308
Date: 1880  - 2006
Title: Two little dicky birds
Gender: Male and Female 
Classification: Parody 
Rhyme: 

Two little dicky birds,
Sitting on a wall,
One named Peter, 
One named Paul,
Along came Granny,
And shot them in the head,
Now you have two little dicky birds,
Dead, dead, dead!

(Te Aroha, 2003)

--

Two little dicky birds,
Sitting on a gun,
The farmer pulled the trigger,
And shot them up the bum.

(Christchurch, 2000; Auckland, 2000; Auckland, 2002)

--

Two little dicky birds sitting on a wall,
One named Peter, one named Paul,
Fly away Peter, fly away Paul,
Come back Peter, come back Paul.

(Ashburton, 2006)

--
 
Background Info: Sutton-Smith, 1959:133, recalls this rhyme as a hand game played with small pieces of paper stuck to a fingernail of each hand. The hands were placed on the edge of the table with the papered fingers on top. On the words "fly away", the finger was hidden behind the back. (Wellington, 1949) In the 1880s in Nelson the game was known as "Jack and Jill".

==

Originally the birds names were Jack and Gill. c. 1765. Opie, 1992:147:

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 back Jack,
Come back Gill.

==

Similar version often chanted as part of a traditional street game known as "Kerb and Wall", involving a race between two players and the kerb and wall. (Opie, 1984:196-197)

Two little dicky birds
Sat upon a wall, 
One named Peter,
The other named Paul. 
Paul said to Peter,
Peter said to Paul
Let's have a game 
At 'Kerb and Wall'.

==
 
Keywords: violence 
Location: Various NZ 
Group size: 2 
Incidence: 5