Animal Course
Series teasers are where you try to complete the sequence of a series of letters, numbers or objects.
What animal completes this series?
fly, spider, bird, cat, dog, goat, cow, ?
HintIt isn't a swallow, of course. The title is also a hint.
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Answer
horse
These 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
WeirdlyOrdinary  
Oct 26, 2006
| Easy, but fun. Great teaser!  |
Lizzie713 
Oct 26, 2006
| Easy but a good one
I got it YAY ME
I used to love that song/rhyme lol |
qwart 
Oct 28, 2006
| omg i love it... it was fun and easy and i love that sing... |
maingle-_-
Oct 28, 2006
| That was great! I thought horse, but didn't think of the song, lol! very creative! |
Rukia
Oct 29, 2006
| 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. |
Chakoteya
Oct 30, 2006
| Good old Burl Ives....
easy. |
dafosurenizzle
Nov 02, 2006
| Yah!! I got it right! |
Pizzazz2u
Nov 13, 2006
| After thinking about the song, this one fell into place.....lol Now, I hope I can the song *out of my mind*.  Fantastic teaser. |
Pizzazz2u
Nov 13, 2006
| I hope I can get the song *out of my mind* |
Pojuer 
Jun 28, 2007
| I don't know much about nursery rhymes  |
cloughme
Jul 03, 2007
| Difficult if you've never heard the children's song. Fortunately, I had heard it... |
cooltigerr1
Jul 03, 2007
| i loved this one
but i never got to hear the full nursery rhyme so i didnt get it right |
teddybair
Jul 03, 2007
| 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...  |
ikramazeem
Jul 03, 2007
| 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.
ikramazeem@hotmail.com |
Phalanx
Jul 03, 2007
| 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! |
puttumup
Jul 03, 2007
|  great teaser.a little on theeasy side but fun to do.. |
doehead
Jul 03, 2007
| This one put me back into my childhood.YAWN  |
rosekranskids
Jul 03, 2007
| It was tricky, but also lots of fun!!! It had me thinkn' but I luved it! |
anniebee
Jul 03, 2007
| That was tricky, I could'nt remember the particular nursery rhyme, so I had to peek.  Great brain food though! |
saleprice
Jul 03, 2007
| Cute, verrrry cute |
happyhak
Jul 03, 2007
| weird riddle but still a classic |
cashewnut801
Jul 03, 2007
| 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! |
cashewnut801
Jul 03, 2007
| Oh, sorry I didn't see the comment before it about light vs dark... |
scallio
Jul 03, 2007
| 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!
|
Flapdoodle06
Jul 03, 2007
| not very hard , but it was clever |
locutus13ds
Jul 03, 2007
| Never heard this nusery rhyme.. Oh well..  |
soccermissy29
Jul 03, 2007
| 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  |
evilfuzzymonste
Jul 03, 2007
| 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. |
bradon182001
Jul 03, 2007
| Have to agree with evilfuzzy. I didn't know the story or song, but I did get the answer. |
2ndhandrose
Jul 03, 2007
| 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 |
zaya
Jul 03, 2007
| This is without doubt the worst teaser I've seen. What's challenging about knowing a nursery rhyme or not? Stupid.  |
hoosiergirl
Jul 03, 2007
| I'm old enough to remember Burl Ives. I don't remember the dead part - gross. I thought course meant school. |
mondayschild59
Jul 03, 2007
| 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~ |
tonjawithaj
Jul 03, 2007
| 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 |
empy
Jul 03, 2007
| Having flashbacks of long long ago. |
Castle
Jul 03, 2007
| 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... |
PRAragorn
Jul 03, 2007
| Nice teaser, although I was thinking along the lines of things eating each other. Although the goat and the cow..... |
Infinitoid
Jul 03, 2007
| that woulda been good if you knew the nursery rhyme. i on the other hand had a depressing childhood. |
Brock
Jul 03, 2007
| good teaser I dont get it |
bhssoccer23
Jul 03, 2007
| 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. |
Katelin
Jul 03, 2007
| 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! |
wordmama
Jul 03, 2007
| 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.  |
speedqueenkmw
Jul 04, 2007
| I thought of human, also, but my brain must have remembered the rhyme cuz I settled on horse before looking at the answer. |
kittygirl19 
Aug 27, 2009
| i horses are |
gaylewolf
Jul 03, 2010
| 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!
|
doehead
Jul 03, 2010
| I'll stick to my comment in 2007. |
bestgirl
Jul 03, 2010
| I'm with Castle on this one. |
patiencewithaP
Jul 03, 2010
| Fun teaser...I loved that song in 1st grade! Now I'll be singing it the rest of the day... |
MajorCrazy1
Jul 03, 2010
| Whooa i was wayy off, i thought it was just a simple food chain thing and i said "human" lol |
drummergirl63
Jul 03, 2010
| 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. |
auntiesis
Jul 03, 2010
| I never knew the song, but for some reason I knew the answer was horse. Great teaser. |
squeakQT
Jul 03, 2010
| 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! |
M2101
Jul 03, 2010
| Dumb teaser! But fun. |
precious1026
Jul 03, 2010
| 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 |
Obilio
May 03, 2013
| 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. |
MarcM1098
May 04, 2013
| 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! |
MarcM1098
May 04, 2013
| Sorry, "tiggled" should be "tickled". |
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