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The Silly Little Duck

A downy little duckling

Author: Ida M. Budd
Tune: [A downy little duckling]
Published in 1 hymnal

Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1 A downy little duckling
Went waddling off one day;
He didn’t like the other ducks;
With them he would not play;
He was too independent, too,
To stay with them, he said;
He thought it vastly pleasanter
To go alone instead.

Refrain:
O silly little duckling!
To pout will never pay;
I wonder if small boys and girls
Would ever act that way?

2 The other little ducklings
Looked at him ruefully,
And felt quite grieved to see him walk
Away so scornfully.
“Quack! quack!” they said, as if to make
Amends for all their lack;
But he had grown so dignified
He wouldn’t even quack. [Refrain]

3 The water in the duck-pond
Looked cool and nice to him;
The morning was so very fine,
He thought he’d take a swim;
So, in he plunged, but to himself
Soon said that he must own
That it was very tame indeed
To swim around alone. [Refrain]

4 He caught great big June-bug,
As fat as fat could be;
But then it wasn’t any fun
With no one there to see;
He wished the other ducks would come,
As oft they had in play,
And chase him round, and round, and round,
To get the bug away. [Refrain]

5 And then this lonely duckling,
What did he, do you think?
He took that bug and waddled back
Most quick as you could wink;
And when the ducks came up and tried
To take that bug away,
He thought it was the greatest fun
He’d had for many a day. [Refrain]

Source: Great Revival Hymns #158

Author: Ida M. Budd

Ida M. Budd was born in 1859 in a log cabin in Saginaw County, Michigan. When she was three years old her parents moved to Milford, Michigan. She loved nature and books. She decided to be a school teacher, receiving her teaching certificate when she was fifteen. Her first poem was published in 1881. She is known for her poems for children. Dianne Shapiro, from "The Singers and Their Songs: sketches of living gospel hymn writers" by Charles Hutchinson Gabriel (Chicago: The Rodeheaver Company, 1916) Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: A downy little duckling
Title: The Silly Little Duck
Author: Ida M. Budd
Refrain First Line: O silly little duckling
Publication Date: 1911
Copyright: This text is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before 1929.

Instances

Instances (1 - 1 of 1)
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Great Revival Hymns #158

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