[citation needed] The most common modern version is: Hickory dickory dock.

The clock struck ten, The mouse ran down, Hickory dickory dock.

The clock struck eleven, The mouse ran down, Hickory dickory dock.

The clock struck twelve, The mouse ran down, Hickory dickory dock.

Other variants have non-sequential numbers, for example starting with "The clock struck ten, The mouse ran down" instead of the traditional "one".

[citation needed] The earliest recorded version of the rhyme is in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book, published in London in May 1744, which uses the opening line: 'Hickere, Dickere Dock'.

[1] The next recorded version in Mother Goose's Melody (c. 1765), uses 'Dickery, Dickery Dock'.

[1] Westmorland shepherds in the nineteenth century used the numbers Hevera (8), Devera (9) and Dick (10) which are from the language Cumbric.

The clock has a small hole in the door below the face for the resident cat to hunt mice.