Over in the Meadow

First recorded: 1870

Origin: United States

Lyrics

Over in the meadow, in the sand, in the sun,Lived an old mother turtle and her little turtle one."Dig!" said the mother; "I dig!" said the one.So they dug all day in the sand, in the sun.

Over in the meadow, where the stream runs blue,Lived an old mother fish and her little fishes two."Swim!" said the mother; "We swim!" said the two.So they swam and they leaped where the stream runs blue.

Over in the meadow, in a hole in a tree,Lived an old mother bluebird and her little birdies three."Sing!" said the mother; "We sing!" said the three.So they sang and were glad in the hole in the tree.

Over in the meadow, in the reeds on the shore,Lived an old mother muskrat and her little ratties four."Dive!" said the mother; "We dive!" said the four.So they dived and they burrowed in the reeds on the shore.

History and Meaning

Every verse of "Over in the Meadow" does the same four jobs. It names a place, names a mother animal, gives her a numbered set of babies, and hands the family a verb. Turtles dig in the sand. Fish swim where the stream runs blue. Bluebirds sing in a hole in a tree. The pattern holds all the way to ten, which is why the song has outlasted almost every other Victorian counting piece: a child who learns verse one already knows how verse seven is built and can join in on the number and the action without being taught.

The four verses above are the opening of a song that keeps going. Verse five puts honeybees in a snug beehive and tells them to buzz, verse six sends crows into a nest, and the count continues through frogs, lizards, spiders and fireflies depending on which version you have. Ten verses printed in full get repetitive on the page, but they are not repetitive out loud, because each new animal changes the sound and the movement.

Origins

The rhyme was published in 1870 in "Kit, Fan, Tot, and the Rest of Them", a children's book issued by the American Tract Society, under the name Olive A. Wadsworth. That name belonged to no real person. It was a pen name used by Katharine Floyd Dana, an American writer who lived from 1835 to 1886 and who published under it more than once. Modern picture-book editions often print both names on the copyright page, which is why library catalogues list the song under Wadsworth and Dana at the same time.

Whether Dana invented the verses or wrote down something already in circulation is not settled. The song is frequently described as an older folk rhyme that she collected rather than composed, and its structure does look like traditional cumulative counting songs rather than parlour poetry. What can be said plainly is that the 1870 printing is the earliest firm appearance, and that variants with different animals and different regional wording were being sung and recorded long afterwards.

Later illustrators reshaped it further. John Langstaff's 1957 version, illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsky, was named a Caldecott Honor Book and set the song to a singable tune for a new generation. Ezra Jack Keats produced his own picture-book version in 1971. Each of these editions swapped, dropped or renamed animals to suit the pictures, so no two families singing it today are guaranteed to have the same creature at number seven.

Meaning & Interpretation

The song is a teaching tool wearing a nature poem's clothes. The counting is the obvious part, one through ten in order, with the number said twice in each verse so it lands. Underneath that sit three more lessons. Children pick up animal names and their young. They pick up habitats, since every animal is placed somewhere specific: sand, stream, tree hole, reeds, beehive. And they pick up strong verbs, because each family is given one action word and then performs it: dig, swim, sing, dive, buzz.

The call and response is what makes it work in a group. The mother gives the command, the babies answer in the plural, and the last line reports what happened. Two children or a whole classroom can split those parts, and toddlers who cannot yet count reliably will still shout the verb on cue. Adding hand actions for each animal turns it into a movement song without changing a word.

Who wrote Over in the Meadow?

It was published in 1870 under the name Olive A. Wadsworth, which was a pen name used by the American writer Katharine Floyd Dana (1835 to 1886). Because both names circulate, the song is credited to Wadsworth on some editions and to Dana on others, but they are the same author. Many sources suggest she was recording an existing folk rhyme rather than inventing one, though the earlier oral versions were never written down at the time.

How many verses does Over in the Meadow have?

Ten, counting from one animal family up to ten. The four verses printed above are the beginning; the song continues with honeybees, crows and other meadow creatures, and the exact lineup changes from version to version. Singing the first four or five verses is normal with young children, since the counting lesson is already doing its work by then.

What does Over in the Meadow teach?

Four things at once: counting to ten in order, the names of common animals and their babies, where those animals live, and a set of action verbs including dig, swim, sing, dive and buzz. The repeated frame means a child only has to learn the shape of one verse to follow all ten, which makes it a useful early-years song for classrooms as well as bedtime.