Brain Teasers
Animal Course
What animal completes this series?
fly, spider, bird, cat, dog, goat, cow, ?
fly, spider, bird, cat, dog, goat, cow, ?
Hint
It isn't a swallow, of course. The title is also a hint.Answer
horseThese are all the animals swallowed by the old lady in the nursery rhyme:
- There was an old lady who swallowed a fly. I don't know why she swallowed a fly. Perhaps she'll die!
The rhyme continues with the following animals:
- She swallowed a spider to catch the fly.
- She swallowed a bird to catch the spider.
- She swallowed a cat to catch the bird.
- She swallowed a dog to catch the cat.
- She swallowed a goat to catch the dog.
- She swallowed a cow to catch the goat.
The rhyme concludes with:
- There was an old lady who swallowed a horse. She's dead, of course.
As for the title, a course is part of a meal, which hints at the old lady's eight-course meal of animals.
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Comments
Easy, but fun. Great teaser!
Easy but a good one
I got it YAY ME
I used to love that song/rhyme lol
I got it YAY ME
I used to love that song/rhyme lol
omg i love it... it was fun and easy and i love that sing...
That was great! I thought horse, but didn't think of the song, lol! very creative!
that is a great nursery rhyme. however, my neice has a book where they end it "she's full of course". apperently if she dies at the end its too morbid for children nowadays.
Good old Burl Ives....
easy.
easy.
Yah!! I got it right!
After thinking about the song, this one fell into place.....lol Now, I hope I can the song *out of my mind*. Fantastic teaser.
I hope I can get the song *out of my mind*
I don't know much about nursery rhymes
Difficult if you've never heard the children's song. Fortunately, I had heard it...
i loved this one
but i never got to hear the full nursery rhyme so i didnt get it right
but i never got to hear the full nursery rhyme so i didnt get it right
This one was fun and brought back memories of when my sister and I used to sing that song as kids. Hmm...maybe it's time to introduce it to my kids now that I've remembered it...
Hi I am ikram from Pakistan.
I could not understand it since I never heard this poem in our country. Our poem are different and in Urdu.
[email protected]
I could not understand it since I never heard this poem in our country. Our poem are different and in Urdu.
[email protected]
LOL... I solved it even without knowing the rhyme! Never heared of it, but just noticed that the animals were getting larger and I was thinking about a non-exotic animal that could be larger than a cow!
And I was even right!
And I was even right!
great teaser.a little on theeasy side but fun to do..
This one put me back into my childhood.YAWN
It was tricky, but also lots of fun!!! It had me thinkn' but I luved it!
That was tricky, I could'nt remember the particular nursery rhyme, so I had to peek. Great brain food though!
Cute, verrrry cute
weird riddle but still a classic
Very easy except I never used to sing the goat and the cow part. I think I skipped straight to the horse. Wow, the things you learn when you're older!
Oh, sorry I didn't see the comment before it about light vs dark...
Heard of it but wasn't very familiar. Found myself wondering what kind of animal would chase or eat a cow and couldn't think of one. Wasn't even sure I was on the right track since cows don't really chase goats either.
Great teaser!
Great teaser!
not very hard , but it was clever
Never heard this nusery rhyme.. Oh well..
This was so fun!!! I knew that it was the lady who swallowed a fly nursery rhyme but I couldnt remember which animal she swallowed next
I'm usually not so wild about teasers that depend on a certain reference, because then it's harder for most people to get them ... but this one worked out well, even a little too easily, because the progression up through animals obviously goes from cow to horse in way more than one childrens' song or story. The "of course" is also always a dead giveaway.
Have to agree with evilfuzzy. I didn't know the story or song, but I did get the answer.
That was Fun.
Classic song, can hear the tune in my head right now."Burl Ives" I
think sang it.
Got the answer. Easy but fun to
remember
Classic song, can hear the tune in my head right now."Burl Ives" I
think sang it.
Got the answer. Easy but fun to
remember
This is without doubt the worst teaser I've seen. What's challenging about knowing a nursery rhyme or not? Stupid.
I'm old enough to remember Burl Ives. I don't remember the dead part - gross. I thought course meant school.
Never heard of that song. I thought it was human, everyone chasing the one before it. So I missed another one. But I will carry on. I'll get one right sonner or later.
Thanks for the post.
Monday~
Thanks for the post.
Monday~
Like Scallio, I was trying to think of an animal that would chase or eat a cow, and I came up with Human.
Totally forgot about the nursery rhyme! LOL
Totally forgot about the nursery rhyme! LOL
Having flashbacks of long long ago.
I think we need to be a little more careful about teasers like this, in that it all hinges on knowing one particular nursery rhyme. There's already been one comment I've seen by someone who, since they've grown up in a non-English-speaking country (and there are quite a few of those out there) has never heard of it.
I can't support a teaser like this one, where it's an absolute gimme if you've heard the rhyme, and practically impossible if you haven't. If there's no middle ground (ie if you can't nut it out simply through problem solving), then there's something wrong...
I can't support a teaser like this one, where it's an absolute gimme if you've heard the rhyme, and practically impossible if you haven't. If there's no middle ground (ie if you can't nut it out simply through problem solving), then there's something wrong...
Nice teaser, although I was thinking along the lines of things eating each other. Although the goat and the cow.....
that woulda been good if you knew the nursery rhyme. i on the other hand had a depressing childhood.
good teaser I dont get it
Castle, I'm very familiar with the nursery rhyme, but I didn't get the answer correct. I don't think it's a gimme if you know the nursery rhyme, but I get what you're saying about the fact that getting it right depends on knowing the rhyme. I still enjoyed the teaser, even if I didn't get the answer.
Lol, I got that right because I always loved that rhyme just for the simple fact that it was so random... I like it, great work!
The nursery rhyme did not come to me, so using my brain, as one might in a brain teaser, I came up with 'human' since many of us eat cow products just as a spider eats a fly. I saw others were also thinking along those lines, so I don't even care if my answer is not "the" answer; it's the thought process that's important.
I thought of human, also, but my brain must have remembered the rhyme cuz I settled on horse before looking at the answer.
i horses are
I loved that song, too!!
Thanks for the memory!
Fun to sing as a child and I think I'll
teach it to my grandchildren!
Thanks for the memory!
Fun to sing as a child and I think I'll
teach it to my grandchildren!
I'll stick to my comment in 2007.
I'm with Castle on this one.
Fun teaser...I loved that song in 1st grade! Now I'll be singing it the rest of the day...
Whooa i was wayy off, i thought it was just a simple food chain thing and i said "human" lol
I disagree with the comments that you need to know the nursery rhyme to get this. I figured it out and I've never heard the rhyme. I just thought what's bigger than a cow....a horse.
I never knew the song, but for some reason I knew the answer was horse. Great teaser.
well i got it right but i thought that all those animals were getting bigger and they could all be found on a farm, plus, horse rhymes with course! this is the first teaser i've ever gotten right!
Dumb teaser! But fun.
I thought of other animals that could possibly finish the farm animal series, because thats what the listing or series appeared to be, all animals found on a farm. Therefore, the next animal within the series would have been a Pig or Chicken. Yes, Yes, Horses can be a farm animal, but rarely. Decent teaser. At least, better than the Teaser I created, even though she did not create this Teaser, she just rearranged its original format.
Good Work
Good Work
If I remember right, There was a rhyme for every verse: I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Just jumped up beside her and swallowed the spider,
Imagine that! She swallowed the cat,
( I don't remember the dog rhyme )
Just opened her throat and swallowed the goat,
I don't know how she swallowed the cow,
Then the horse one that's in the explanation. Does anyone remember the dog verse?
Thank you for the trip down memory lane, it was fun, and perfectly appropriate for an English speaking website that states as much in the rules when you sign up.
Just jumped up beside her and swallowed the spider,
Imagine that! She swallowed the cat,
( I don't remember the dog rhyme )
Just opened her throat and swallowed the goat,
I don't know how she swallowed the cow,
Then the horse one that's in the explanation. Does anyone remember the dog verse?
Thank you for the trip down memory lane, it was fun, and perfectly appropriate for an English speaking website that states as much in the rules when you sign up.
There was an old lady who swallowed a fly.
I don't know why she swallowed a fly - perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a spider,
That wriggled and wiggled and tiggled inside her.
There was an old lady who swallowed a bird;
How absurd, to swallow a bird.
There was an old lady who swallowed a cat.
Imagine that, she swallowed a cat.
There was an old lady that swallowed a dog.
What a hog, to swallow a dog.
There was an old lady who swallowed a goat.
Just opened her throat and swallowed a goat.
There was an old lady who swallowed a cow.
I don't know how she swallowed a cow.
There was an old lady who swallowed a horse.
She's dead, of course!
I don't know why she swallowed a fly - perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a spider,
That wriggled and wiggled and tiggled inside her.
There was an old lady who swallowed a bird;
How absurd, to swallow a bird.
There was an old lady who swallowed a cat.
Imagine that, she swallowed a cat.
There was an old lady that swallowed a dog.
What a hog, to swallow a dog.
There was an old lady who swallowed a goat.
Just opened her throat and swallowed a goat.
There was an old lady who swallowed a cow.
I don't know how she swallowed a cow.
There was an old lady who swallowed a horse.
She's dead, of course!
Sorry, "tiggled" should be "tickled".
Great response Castle! If you don't know the rhyme it is likely you will not get the answer. To those who figured it out because each one got larger, I don't believe flies and spiders are much different in size. Some house flies are small while a blow fly is large. Some spiders are large while some are very small, so that did not work for me. To those who liked it...glad you did!
I agree with those who said, "You either know it or you don't." But I still liked it.
Didn't know the rhyme, glad I didn't spend too much time trying to figure this one out.
While I got the answer right away, I do have to agree with those who said that this teaser either one you know or you don't.
OF course the same can be said for the math or science ones, if you are not familiar with the underlying mathematical or scientific principle, you'll never get it.
OF course the same can be said for the math or science ones, if you are not familiar with the underlying mathematical or scientific principle, you'll never get it.
To bad she didn't eat the editors. New editors might give some new teasers.
I am not very good at these things but I thought the answer is: human as this sort of works as a food chain except i never heard of dogs being eaten by goats lol.
OK, I looked at that again and technichally I just wrote the dumbest thing ever...
I remembered the song from many years ago. It was fun to see if I could remember all of the verses!
To those who think it not fair to someone who wasn't familiar with the rhyme: I seldom watch TV or go to movies. If knowledge of the latest in songs, movie stars, etc. etc., is necessary to solve any particular teaser, then it must be unfair to me to publish that teaser!!
I enjoyed this one anyway!
To those who think it not fair to someone who wasn't familiar with the rhyme: I seldom watch TV or go to movies. If knowledge of the latest in songs, movie stars, etc. etc., is necessary to solve any particular teaser, then it must be unfair to me to publish that teaser!!
I enjoyed this one anyway!
I vaguely remembered there being a poem like this so I googled it for the answer. For whatever the reason, the first version of the poem I read made no mention of a goat. So although I guessed the correct answer, I wondered if there would be a tricky twist involved. I have since found another version of the poem with the "goat" in it.
Fun, easy and entertaining teaser; I got this very quick even tough I never heard of the nursery rhyme. I just guessed something larger than a cow and horse was all I could think of.
Ha! Wonderful bit of trivia and nostalgia. Very fun. Not at all easy if you didn't recall the poem/rhyme/song whatever that thing is.
I never heard that rhyme, and now I'm traumatized great teaser, though! I kind of thought it was "human" since humans eat cows.
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