About the Author When she returned to Swindon in the 70’s she teamed up with Michael Twinn who had recently founded Child’s Play. Her first book ‘There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly’, published in 1972, is still Child’s Play best selling title.

“There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly” is a cumulative song that tells the story as funny as it is absurd of a woman who after swallowing a fly, and then a spider that has to catch the fly, ends up swallowing bigger and bigger animals, until she dies after swallowing a horse that was supposed to catch the cow.

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; I don’t know why she swallowed a fly – Perhaps she’ll die!

What will happen if a human swallowed a fly? Overall, nothing catastrophic will happen. There is no danger in this since the fly will reach the stomach and get digested, just like any food product.

Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard, To fetch her poor dog a bone. But when she got there the cupboard was bare, To fetch her poor dog a bone.

Rose Bonne
I Know an Old Lady (There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly)/Lyricists

Would You Get Sick if You Swallowed a Fly? For the most part, you will probably not fall sick. Generally accidentally swallowing a bug or an insect such as a fly should be cause for worry. The body has the right mechanisms that can help to digest such things, just the way it does with food.

Will An Inhaled Fly Go Into Your Lungs? It’s not very likely that the fly will get very far. If you’re sure that the fly’s gone down your windpipe, and you don’t see it come out again when you cough, it’s much more likely that it has come out into your mouth and you’ve swallowed it.