Alan Wake 2: All Nursery Rhyme Locations and Solutions in Cauldron Lake

One of the more unique interactable puzzles is a series of Nursery Rhymes. The Federal Bureau of Control has created these to test Cauldron Lake’s ability to make art real.

You’ll have to determine the answer to each rhyme and place-specific dolls to match that. There are five Nursery Rhymes in Cauldron Lake to complete throughout Saga’s story.

You won’t be able to begin finding the Nursery Rhymes until after the Nightingale fight, as it clears up all the flooding in the forest.

All Cauldron Lake Nursery Rhymes

None of these are missable and can still be found up until the point that you speak to Agent Estevez in Return 6 after fighting Scratch, which is the clear Point of No Return.

While there are five total Nursery Rhymes in Cauldron Lake, the fifth won’t be accessible until you have done all the rest in Bright Falls and Watery. If at any point you can’t find these, I recommend going to Watery and petting the Mayor. This gets you the Mayor Setter Charm, which will vastly increase the range that adds collectible icons to your map.

Minus the Rental Cabin that requires the Bolt Cutters and the fifth Nursery Rhyme, there’s a certain order you need to do these in as they require collecting dolls.

Bridge

One bird for light
Two for darkness
Three birds for a fight
Four for a struggle
Five birds for injury
Six for misery
Seven for the ending,
whatever that may be.

As this is likely the first you’ll find, place the Crow Doll on the Sun.

Witchfinder Station

The Hero brave and strong
left home to right a wrong
From the woods came the
Wolf so greedy and hungry
That he ate what he found
in the house without a host
The Hero returned to find
she’d lost the thing she
loved most.

The rhyme directs you to place the Hero Doll on the Boat and the Wolf on the Tree.

Private Cabin

A mother-Crow sits in her nest
Guarding her babies, doing her best
To protect her home from
the Beast coming to feast
But only a Hero brave of
heart can keep the two apart

For this one, place the Crow on the Hatched Chick, the Hero on the Heart, and the Wolf on the House.

Rental Cabin

Our Hero courageous and true
Stalked by the Monster hatching through
That clever Crows caw their warning
And keep an eye on the battle forming
When the fight is done and over
The Hero and the Crows
Reap the rewards left for her.

For the solution, put the Monster on the Hatched Chick, Crow on the Eyeball, and the Hero on the Jewelry.

Witchfinder Station Final Nursery Rhyme

The layout for this final Nursery Rhyme is entirely different than the rest. Instead of a stone circle, the symbols are scattered around the station’s interior. Also, the rhyme is spoken over speakers, so you’ll probably have to pay attention to hear the whole thing.

On our Hero, the faraway Father still kept an eye and told her not to stand out in the light too bright, while the loving Mother and her Hatchling only tried to survive. When a tricky Witch opened a way into the dark lake, our Hero, against all caution, did a bold step take, away from the Sun that would make Her blind to all that she could see.

This is a little more complicated than the normal puzzles due to the locations of the symbols.

Downstairs:

• Put Father on the Eye next to the desks by the front door.
• Put Mother on the Heart in the kitchen.
• Put the Hero on the Sun in the bedroom.

Upstairs:

• Place the Trickster on the Waves in the bathroom.
• Place the Child on the Hatched Chick in the toy area.

With these placed, someone will begin calling over the walkie-talkie, and you’ll have to talk to them. Once that dialogue is done, there will be a distortion where the walkie-talkie was. You’ll need to clear it with your flashlight. Once you do, there will be a box, and opening it gets you a third Charm slot for Saga.

This should hopefully help you sort out the right path for getting the Cauldron Lake Nursery Rhymes easily. If you’re hunting for all the achievements/trophies, you’ll also need to open all the Cult Stashes. You can find our guides for those in the links below.