In 1956, composer Alan Mills recorded a version for Scholastic Records released on his children's album Animals, Vol.1. [11] There was an old who swallowed a fly tells a story of just that, an elderly women whom swallows a fly. She attempts to solve the problem by swallowing a spider to swallow the fly, but is once again left with an animal inside her. The women then continues to swallow different types of animals in attempts to solve her horrendous appetite, until the size of the animals get so ridiculous the women literally dies. Although the woman does die the poem is playful, and with such arrhythmic rhyme scheme one cant help but sing along.

Shortly afterwards, the journal Hoosier Folklore published three versions of the story from different parts of the United States ( Colorado, Georgia and Ohio) in its December 1947 edition. The editor calls it a "cumulative tale", and asks readers for information on its origins. [2] All three versions begin with a lady swallowing the fly and end with her dying after swallowing a horse, but there are variations in what animals are swallowed and the rhymes for each animal. There was a young woman who swallowed a lie". Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance archives. Duke University. Draw a picture of your favorite scene from the story, then write about what animal is in it, what is happening, and why. The poem starts with the old lady swallowing a fly and then attempting to retrieve it by also swallowing a spider. This is only the beginning of her problems. Her life gets increasingly difficult as she swallows more animals. Eventually, she dies after trying to swallow a horse.

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Martin, Lee; McIntosh, Eva H.; Newcomb, Mildred (December 1947). "The Little Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly". Hoosier Folklore. 6 (4): 153–156. JSTOR 27649913. Classroom Integration: This would be a book to read after teaching the song so kids could match the words with the music and support their reading/spelling skills.

Find the words in The Old Lady and the Fly wordsearch puzzle, then use the extra letters to find the secret message: "The old lady died." Or go to the answers. The song tells the nonsensical story of an old woman who swallows increasingly large animals, each to catch the previously swallowed animal, but dies after swallowing a horse. There are many variations of phrasing in the lyrics, especially for the description of swallowing each animal. The following two stanzas introduce a dog and a goat. The animals are getting larger and more absurd. It’s harder to believe that anyone could eat one of these animals, much less swell them whole. The goat stanza includes the line “Just opened her throat and swelled a goat.” This is a great example of internal rhyme with “throat” and “goat.” This is a common feature of children’s poetry as usually, the more rhyming, the better. A short, printable picture dictionary of animals from the story called "The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" -- for early readers. The words are: bird, cat, cow, dog, eat, fly, goat, horse, lady, and spider. There was an Old Lady who swallowed a fly” is certainly one silly book that children will love for many years. I would recommend this book for children ages five and up since the format is simple for children to read, but the ending will definitely disturb smaller children since they do not understand about death in real life.

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I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly". onf-nfb.gc.ca. National Film Board of Canada . Retrieved January 16, 2023.