As I Was Going to St Ives


As I was going to St. Ives
I met a man with seven wives

And every wife had seven sacks
And every sack had seven cats
And every cat had seven kits

Kits, cats, sacks, wives
How many were going to St. Ives?



This nursery rhyme is generally thought to be a riddle to which the answer is one.

The explanation is that the person reciting the rhyme was going to St. Ives, and everyone else was going in the opposite direction.