Sing a song o' sixpence, a handful of rye, Four-and-twenty blackbirds baked in a pie; When the pie was opened the birds began to sing, Was not that a dainty dish to set before the King? If you have never heard the legend of Gilligren and the King's pie, you will scarcely understand the above verse; so I will tell you the whole story Thus The Wonderful Wizard of Oz creator, L. Frank Baum, delights readers of all ages with his imaginative tales of the real stories behind the beloved nursery rhymes. Written in 1897, Mother Goose in Prose was the book that launched Baum s career as a writer.