Lyrics
Five little puppies dug a hole under the fence
and went for a walk in the wide, wide, world
through the meadow they went, down the road
and over the bridge, and up the hill
one right after the other
and when the got to the top of the hill
they counted themselves
one, two, three, four,
one little puppy wasn’t there!
Now where in the world is that poky little puppy,
they wondered,
for he certainly wasn’t on top of the hill,
and he wasn’t going down the other side,
and he wasn’t coming up this side…
Then they looked down at the grassy place near the bottom
and there he was, running round and round
his nose to the ground;
“What is he doing?”
the four little puppies asked one another
and down they went to see, roly-poly, pell-mell,
tumble-bumble…
‘till they came to the green grass and stopped short;
“What in the world are you doing?” they asked.
“I smell something.” said the poky little puppy
and then the four puppies began to sniff
and they smelled it too, “Rice pudding!” they said
and home they went as fast as they could
over the bridge, up the road, through the meadow
and under their fence, and there, sure enough
was dinner, waiting for them, with the rice pudding for dessert…
but their mother was greatly displeased.
“So you’re the poky little puppies that dig holes under fences.” she said.
“No rice pudding for you tonight.”
She made them go straight to bed;
but the poky little puppy came home after everyone was asleep
and ate up all the rice pudding, and he crawled into bed,
happy as a lark.
The next morning someone had filled-up the hole and put up a sign
and the sign said, “Don’t ever dig holes under this fence.”
but in spite of that the five little puppies dug a hole under the fence
and went out for a walk in the wide, wide world;
Through the meadow they went, down the road, over the bridge,
across the green and up the hill, two and two they went
and when they got to the top of the hill, they counted themselves;
one little puppy wasn’t there…
“Where is that poky little puppy?” they wondered
for he wasn’t on top of the hill
or going down the other side, or coming up this side;
and they looked down at the grassy place at the bottom of the hill
and there he was, looking hard at something on the ground
in front of him.
“What is he doing?” the four little puppies asked one another
and down they went to see, roly-poly, pell-mell, tumble-bumble
until they stopped short, it was a ripe red strawberry
growing there, in the grass.
“Strawberry shortcake!” they cried
and home they went as fast as they could
over the bridge, up the road, through the meadow
and under the fence, and there, sure enough,
there was dinner waiting for them
with strawberry shortcake for dessert;
but their mother said, “So you’re the little puppies
who dug that hole under the fence again.
No strawberry shortcake for supper tonight!”
and she made them go straight to bed.
But the four little puppies waited
until they thought she was asleep
and the slipped out and filled the hole;
when the turned around, there was their mother, waiting for them.
“Well, what good little puppies!” she said.
“Come and have some strawberry shortcake.”
and this time, when the poky little puppy got home
he had to squeeze in through a wide place in the fence
and there were his four brothers and sisters
licking the last crumbs from their saucers.
“Dear me.” said his mother,
“It’s a pity you’re so poky,
now all the strawberry shortcake is all gone.”
So the poky little puppy had to go to bed without a single bite,
and he felt very sorry for himself;
and the next morning someone had to put up a sign that read,
“No dessert, EVER, unless puppies never dig holes under this fence,
again. NEVER! Or no dessert for little puppies,
poky or otherwise! (without a single bite).”
