One Two Three Four Five Six Seven, All Good Children Go to Heaven

DESCRIPTION: "One two three four five six seven, All good children go to heaven." "When they get there, God will say, Where's the diamond you stole that day? If you say you do not know, He will send you down below." "Penny on the water, tuppence on the sea"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1900 (Sutton-Smith-NZ-GamesOfNewZealandChilden/FolkgamesOfChildren)
KEYWORDS: playparty thief Hell jumprope | counting
FOUND IN: US(MW,So) New Zealand Ireland
REFERENCES (13 citations):
Sutton-Smith-NZ-GamesOfNewZealandChilden/FolkgamesOfChildren, p, 89, "(One to three four, five, six, seven)" (2 texts)
McIntosh-FolkSongsAndSingingGamesofIllinoisOzarks, p. 110, "(One-two-three-four-five-six-seven)" (1 text)
Sackett/Koch-KansasFolklore, p. 118, "(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)" (1 text)
Solomon-ZickaryZan, p. 77, "(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)" (1 text)
Brady-AllInAllIn, p. 54, "(One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, All good children go to heaven)" (1 text)
Kane-SongsAndSayingsOfAnUlsterChildhood, p. 61, "One two three four five six seven, All good children go to heaven" (1 text)
Peirce-KeepTheKettleBoiling, p. 37, "(One, two, three, four, five, six seven)" (1 text)
Delamar-ChildrensCountingOutRhymes, p. 116, "A penny on the avenue"; p. 116, "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven"; p. 120, "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven" (3 texts)
Abrahams-JumpRopeRhymes, #429, #430, #431, #432, #433, #434, all of which begin "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, All good children (people) go to heaven" (6 texts); #458, "Penny on the water" (1 text)
Withers-EenieMeenieMinieMo, p. 10, "(One, two, three, four)" (1 text)
MidwestFolklore, W. L. McAtee, "Some Folklore of Grant County, Indiana, in the Nineties," Volume 1, Number 4 (WInter 1951), p. 256, "(One, two, three, four, five, six, seven)" (1 text)
MidwestFolklore, Vance Randolph, "Jump Rope Rhymes From Arkansas" Volume 3, Number 2 (Summer 1953), p. 79, "(One, two, three, four, five, six, seven)"; "(One, two, three, four, five, six, seven)" (2 texts)
ADDITIONAL: Peter and Iona Opie, _I Saw Esau: Traditional Rhymes of Youth_, #74, p. 67, "(One two three four five six seven)" (1 text)
Roud #19355
NOTES [247 words]: Not all versions of this include the "Penny on the water"/"Penny on the avenue" verse, and that verse seems to circulate on its own. I'm not sure if they are one item that split or two separate items that joined. I'm lumping them for consistency with the Roud Index, because you can obviously read the third line to figure out which is which!
Abrahams-JumpRopeRhymes has six different forms, his #429-#434, all of which have the opening "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, All good children [#433 has "people"] go to heaven." But the rest is different; we may catalog them as follows, based on the third and following lines:
#429 -- "All the rest go down below, To eat supper with Old Black Joe. How many bad ones to below."
#430 -- "No, yes, no, yes, no, yes, no, If you are bad you cannot go."
#431 -- "Seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, All bad children suck their thumbs."
#432 -- "When they die their sin's forgiven, One, two, three, four, five, six, seven."
#433 -- "When they get there God will say, 'Where's the book you stole away?'" They may end up facing RED HOT PEPPERS
#434 -- "When they get there, the angels will say, (school's name) children, come this way."
And this isn't even close to the full list. And doubtless they can be sung together anyway.
Withers-EenieMeenieMinieMo, p. 10, has what seems to be presented as another rhyme but appears more like a second verse: "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, All bad children have to wait." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: McIn110B

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