Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross Nursery Rhyme

‘Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross’ is an English language famous nursery rhyme. It has been popular with children for several centuries. The nineteenth-century Prime Minister, William Ewart Gladstone, used to sing ‘Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross’ to his children every day. There are many versions of this rhyme. Let’s read about one of them.

Riding a Cock Horse

Lyrics of Rhyme ‘Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross’

There are many versions of this horse rhyme. Let us learn some versions of the rhyme. The most familiar version of the rhyme is:

Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross,

To see a fine lady upon a white horse;

Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes,

And she shall have music wherever she goes.

The second version of the rhyme is:

Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross,

To buy little Johnny a galloping horse;

It trots behind and it ambles before,

And Johnny shall ride till he can ride no more.

The third version of the rhyme is:

Ride a cock-horse

To Banbury Cross,

To see what Tommy can buy;

A penny white loaf,

A penny white cake,

And a two-penny apple-pie.

Lyrics of the Rhyme

Meaning of Rhyme ‘Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross’

The rhyme ‘Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross’ is about a lady and a white horse. In some versions the lady is an old woman and in other versions she is a fine lady. In one version she is the strangest old woman that you ever saw and in another the white horse is a black horse. So, there are variations in all versions.

There are many other variations also, like the colour of the horse, the identity of the female rider even more fraught with peril and error. In the rhyme, it is expressed that the lady is riding a white horse and crossing Banbury Cross. There are rings on her fingers and bells on her toes. She has music wherever she goes.

Lady Riding a White Horse

What is a Cock Horse?

A cock horse is a phrase which is taken from the 15th century. It means a high-spirited horse, or it can also mean an entire or uncastrated horse. A cock horse may also refer to the additional horse to assist in pulling a cart or carriage up a hill.

How to Ride a Cock Horse?

A cock horse is j  phrase taken from the nursery rhyme ‘Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross’. A cock horse may have different meanings. In the rhyme, cock horse is the horse of a woman who is riding in Banbury Cross. She is an old lady riding a white horse. It can also be a black horse in other versions of the rhyme. So, one can say riding a cock horse is the same as riding any other horse as cock is just a phrase used for the horse.

Rhyming Words

Rhyming words are those words which have the same ending sound. We will understand rhyming words by taking some examples from the lyrics of the rhyme. In this rhyme, rhyming words are: 

• Cross-horse

• Toes-goes

• Before-more

Conclusion

The rhyme ‘Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross’ is a nursery rhyme. The rhyme is about a lady and a horse. The lady is riding a horse by Banbury Cross. There are many variants of the rhyme. We have also discussed some rhyming words used in the rhyme.