The Little Orphan Annie
by
James Whitcomb Riley
Little Orphan Annie’s come to my house to stay.
To wash the cups and saucers up and brush the crumbs away.
To shoo the chickens from the porch and dust the hearth and sweep,
and make the fire and bake the bread to earn her board and keep.
While all us other children, when the supper things is done,
we sit around the kitchen fire and has the mostest fun,
a listening to the witch tales that Annie tells about
and the goblins will get ya if ya don’t watch out!
Once there was a little boy who wouldn’t say his prayers,
and when he went to bed at night away up stairs,
his mammy heard him holler and his daddy heard him bawl,
and when they turned the covers down,
he wasn’t there at all!
They searched for him in the attic room
and cubby hole and press
and even up the chimney flu and every wheres, I guess,
but all they ever found of him was just his pants and round-abouts
and the goblins will get ya if ya don’t watch out!!
Once there was a little girl who always laughed and grinned
and made fun of everyone, of all her blood and kin,
and once when there was company and the old folks was there,
she mocked them and she shocked them and said, she didn’t care.
And just as she turned on her heels and to go and run and hide,
there was two great big black things a standing by her side.
They snatched her through the ceiling fore she knew what shes about,
and the goblins will get ya if ya don’t watch out!!
When the night is dark and scary,
and the moon is full and creatures are a flying and the wind goes Whoooooooooo,
you better mind your parents and your teachers fond and dear,
and cherish them that loves ya, and dry the orphans tears
and help the poor and needy ones that cluster all about,
or the goblins will get ya if ya don’t watch out!!!
It’s a pity I didn’t remember this poem and post it before Halloween. Well I did but I posted it on my other Blog and didn’t get around to putting it up over here.
My Grand-Daddy used to recite this poem to us little kids from memory. It may have been the only piece of poetry he actually knew by heart. It used to give me the shivers but I wanted to hear it again and again.
He gave me my first book of poetry when I was in third or fourth grade–a nice big thick book called “A Child’s Treasure of Verses.” It was Delphinium Blue and about the size of a Reader’s Digest Condensed Book.
It was the first book I ever got that didn’t have pictures. And it wasn’t my birthday or anything. He found it in the garbage at school where he was the janitor. Grand-Daddy was always contributing to my reading addiction and was the main reason I could read at college level when I was in the 6th grade. Bless his heart.
I spent many happy hours reading that book. I can remember one occasion that I actually memorized something in it for a talent program and I can recall reading this poem to my brothers when I was 12 which would have made my youngest brother of three 8 or 9. Yeah, we were stair-steps.
My Grand-son was still too young this year for this poem but next year I think he will be ready. I hope it is a warm evening Halloween night because I will recite it in the dark with much drama and fan fare!
B
Appreciated your making this poem available.
been looking for that poen for years thanks
Thank u for sharing this favorite childhood poem. A substitute teacher read it with such expression that years later, I remembered it and read it w/ hopefully the same doomy sound to my voice to my three little girls. I hope they remember it as fondly as I do. It really puts you in the Halloween mood. Happy Halloween!!
As children,my siblings and I would recite this poem from memory when we were bored or wanted to set a scary mood.I have searched for it for many years and could only remember portions of it.I will now be able to share it with my grandchildren thanks to the Internet and you.Thank you ever so much.
My kindergarten teacher used to sing this to us while playing the piano. I didn’t think I’d be able to find it on the Net, yet here it is in its entirety — and with the author’s name!!! Thank you so much — I’m using this in a short story I’m writing about my elementary school ! 🙂
Thank you so much. I have tried to remember this to tell my children and just could not remember the words. My mother used to tell us this when I was a child. You have filled in a missing part of my childhood memory.
Thanks so much for this poem! My husband (Jim) has been looking for this poem FOREVER! He remembers it from his childhood. It was in a book his mother used to read to him and since she’s passed on, the memory of it means a lot to him.
My 4th grade English teacher gave us a weekend homework assignment which was a serious brain teaser on how to use the library.
Thank you for sharing! It was great to find this poem on line. I can’t wait to share this with my children.
Thanks so much for posting this—I had remembered a lot of it but couldn’t remember the whole thing!
Thank you! I remember listening to an old LP with this poem on it. This little girl read it in a very innocent voice. It scared me so much when I was little, but I loved it! Check out Jack Prelutsky’s NIGHTAMRES: POEMS TO TROUBLE YOUR SLEEP. There’s also a 2nd volume! They fall right in line with this, and they have tremendous art work. Thanks again.
My gran read this story to me when I was 5. And it left such an impression on me that 43 years later I still remembered the line “and the goblins will get’cha if ya don’t watch out”. So I asked my daughter to look up the poem with that line. And she found it. Thank you so much for putting it online! I remember it so fondly.
I LOVE IT!! I remember this from when I was a little kid and my dad read it to my older sisters. It scared them into having nightmares. There was an attic entrance in their bedroom and I (at 5 years old) made a point of telling the that the goblins would come down from there at night ; ) They didn’t sleep well for a while but it was all in fun. Now 45 years later, my older sis still has the book.
This is fantastic! My grandmother, who is now 93, used to recite this poem to my cousins and me when we were kids many, many years ago. She doesn’t have Alzheimers or anything, but age has caused her to forget most of the versus by now. Today it suddenly occurred to me to look up the verse online that I could remember…and here it was in its entirety! Thank you so much for keeping this treasure in print…I vow to commit this verse to memory and to pass on to future generations!
Dido!!!
My parents took me to James Whitcomb Riley’s home when I was four or five years old. The attic room had a cot and a “round-about” laying on it. That’s all they ever found:> Years later, I would read it to my classes and my students always loved it. Thank you for having it so available.
My mom, 91, recently recited this for video
you might like it
My mother recently died (95 years old )and I have been seeking on the web,the three poems that she always recited to my sister and I when we were children. This ‘The Little orphan Annie’ being one of them. Thanks for putting it on your website. The other two I also found which may be of interest to you. Aunt Matilda’s Children, from The Littlest one by Marion St, John Webb. ‘The Squeaky shoes’ and ‘The Discontented Buttercup’ by Sarah Orne Jewetts, Discontent, they are great
I was looking for another favorite poem of my youth, and found it, when I remembered about my Mom reciting this poem to me back in the 60’s. I was going to use the Owl Critic for my college paper, but I think this one will be better. Thank you posting!
Thank you so much for posting this!! My husband had searched for this cause his grandmother used to read it to him when he was small. I was thrilled to find it!!
My mom used to repeat this to me on my grandma’s farm back in the hills of WV. It scared me to death. I was thrilled to find it here.
I have been searching for this poem for years and years! My grandmother used to tell it to us every night (because we asked for it), but it really scared me. I only remembered “once there was a little boy, who wouldn’t say his prayers; and when he went to bed at night away up stairs; his mammy heared him holler and his daddy heared him call, and when they turned the kivers back, he wasn’t there at all……….etc., and the Goblins will get you if you don’t watch out. I’m 66 years old now and can’t wait to tell one of my brothers that I found it! Thanks so much.
This poem was read to me when I was in the 5th grade (1971). I could not remember the poem. I could only remember, “and the gobblins will get you if you don’t watch out”. Mrs. Crandle was my 5th grade teacher read this poem to our class. I have always loved it, but could never remember it. So I wasn’t able to share it with my children. Just this past weekend I was watching the Waltons television show and the character John boy was reading this poem to his younger siblings. I wasn’t paying attention, but I heard, “and the gobblins will get you if you don’t watch out!”. It brought back so so many great memories of those years with my favorite elementary teacher Mrs. Crandle. I am so glad that I have been able to find this wonderfully charming Halloween poem that maybe one day ( many years from now) be able to recite to my grandchrildren. Thanks for posting it!
My father was from Galveston, Texas, and used to read me things (eg Tom Sawywr, Huckleberry Finnn, The Just So Stories) with an accent that was both wonderfully deep south and foreign, speaking as he generally did with a completely unaccented General American Dialect that I use to this day. On a dark stormy night like tonight he read me this tale from our encyclopedia, The Book of Knowledge. It came back to me, half-asleep tonight and I found you blog. I printed it printed, posted it in my den and will read it to my children (now all grown) at Halloween. These are the memories that make up our childhood.
Isn’t it interesting that still, even as adults, we intuitively react to what our Selves know to be true?
What a joy to see this is print! My grandmother, born 1894, recited this to me when I was a little girl and I never saw it written anywhere until now. Thank you so much for posting it.