Part 6
But the fire would not.
She went a little farther, and she met some water. So she said--
"Water, water, quench fire! Fire won't burn stick; Stick won't beat dog; Dog won't bite pig; Pig won't get over the stile, And I shan't get home to-night."
But the water would not.
She went a little farther, and she met an ox. So she said--
"Ox, ox, drink water! Water won't quench fire; Fire won't burn stick; Stick won't beat dog; Dog won't bite pig; Pig won't get over the stile, And I shan't get home to-night."
[Illustration: THE OLD WOMAN AND HER PIG]
But the ox would not.
She went a little farther, and she met a butcher. So she said--
"Butcher, butcher, kill ox! Ox won't drink water; Water won't quench fire; Fire won't burn stick; Stick won't beat dog; Dog won't bite pig; Pig won't get over the stile, And I shan't get home to-night."
But the butcher would not.
She went a little farther, and she met a rope. So she said--
"Rope, rope, hang butcher! Butcher won't kill ox; Ox won't drink water; Water won't quench fire; Fire won't burn stick; Stick won't beat dog; Dog won't bite pig; Pig won't get over the stile, And I shan't get home to-night."
But the rope would not.
She went a little farther, and she met a rat. So she said--
"Rat, rat, gnaw rope! Rope won't hang butcher; Butcher won't kill ox; Ox won't drink water; Water won't quench fire; Fire won't burn stick; Stick won't beat dog; Dog won't bite pig; Pig won't get over the stile, And I shan't get home to-night."
But the rat would not.
She went a little farther, and she met a cat. So she said--
"Cat, cat, kill rat; Rat won't gnaw rope; Rope won't hang butcher; Butcher won't kill ox; Ox won't drink water; Water won't quench fire; Fire won't burn stick; Stick won't beat dog; Dog won't bite pig; Pig won't get over the stile, And I shan't get home to-night."
The cat said, "If you will give me a saucer of milk, I will kill the rat."
So the old woman gave the cat the milk, and when she had lapped up the milk--
The cat began to kill the rat; The rat began to gnaw the rope; The rope began to hang the butcher; The butcher began to kill the ox; The ox began to drink the water; The water began to quench the fire; The fire began to burn the stick; The stick began to beat the dog; The dog began to bite the pig; The pig jumped over the stile, And so the old woman got home that night.
[Illustration: Decoration]
THIS is the key of the kingdom. In that kingdom there is a city. In that city there is a town. In that town there is a street. In that street there is a lane. In that lane there is a yard. In that yard there is a house. In that house there is a room. In that room there is a bed. On that bed there is a basket. In that basket there are some flowers. Flowers in the basket, basket in the bed, bed in the room, &c. &c.
[Illustration: RELICS]
[Illustration: Willy boy, Willy boy, where are you going?]
WILLY boy, Willy boy, where are you going? I'll go with you, if I may. "I'm going to the meadow to see them a mowing; I'm going to help them, make hay."
[Illustration: Decoration]
THE girl in the lane, that couldn't speak plain, Cried, "Gobble, gobble, gobble." The man on the hill, that couldn't stand still, Went hobble, hobble, hobble.
[Illustration: Decoration]
HINK, minx! the old witch winks, The fat begins to fry: There's nobody at home but little jumping Joan, Father, mother, and I.
[Illustration: Decoration]
HANNAH BANTRY in the pantry, Eating a mutton bone; How she gnawed it, how she clawed it, When she found she was alone!
[Illustration: Decoration]
LITTLE Miss Muffet Sat on a tuffet, Eating of curds and whey; There came a spider, And sat down beside her, And frightened Miss Muffet away.
[Illustration: "What are Little Boys made of?"]
WHAT are little boys made of, made of; What are little boys made of? "Snaps and snails, and puppy-dogs' tails; And that's what little boys are made of, made of."
What are little girls made of, made of, made of; What are little girls made of? "Sugar and spice, and all that's nice; And that's what little girls are made of, made of."
[Illustration: Decoration]
WHAT'S the news of the day, Good neighbour, I pray? "They say the balloon Is gone up to the moon."
[Illustration: Decoration]
KING'S SUTTON is a pretty town, And lies all in a valley; There is a pretty ring of bells, Besides a bowling-alley: Wine and liquor in good store, Pretty maidens plenty; Can a man desire more? There ain't such a town in twenty.
[Illustration: Decoration]
COME, let's to bed, Says Sleepy-head; "Tarry a while," says Slow; "Put on the pot," Says Greedy-gut, "Let's sup before we go."
[Illustration: Girls and boys, come out to play]
Girls and boys, come out to play; The moon doth shine as bright as day; Leave your supper, and leave your sleep, And come with your playfellows into the street. Come with a whoop, come with a call, Come with a good will or not at all. Up the ladder and down the wall, A halfpenny roll will serve us all. You find milk, and I'll find flour, And we'll have a pudding in half-an-hour.
[Illustration: Decoration]
HOW many days has my baby to play? Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday.
[Illustration: Decoration]
AROUND the green gravel the grass grows green, And all the pretty maids are plain to be seen; Wash them with milk, and clothe them with silk, And write their names with a pen and ink.
[Illustration: Decoration]
AS I was going to sell my eggs, I met a man with bandy legs, Bandy legs and crooked toes; I tripped up his heels, and he fell on his nose.
[Illustration: Decoration]
MY little old man and I fell out; I'll tell you what 'twas all about: I had money, and he had none, And that's the way the row begun.
[Illustration: Daffy-Down-Dilly has come up to town]
DAFFY-DOWN-DILLY has come up to town In a yellow petticoat and a green gown.
[Illustration: Decoration]
DARBY and Joan were dress'd in black, Sword and buckle behind their back; Foot for foot, and knee for knee, Turn about Darby's company.
[Illustration: Decoration]
IF all the seas were one sea, What a _great_ sea that would be! And if all the trees were one tree, What a _great_ tree that would be! And if all the axes were one axe, What a _great_ axe that would be! And if all the men were one man, What a _great_ man he would be! And if the _great_ man took the _great_ axe, And cut down _the great_ tree, And let it fall into _the great_ sea, What a splish splash _that_ would be!
[Illustration: Decoration]
RAIN, rain, go away; Come again another day; Little Arthur wants to play.
[Illustration: Barber, barber, shave a pig]
BARBER, barber, shave a pig; How many hairs will make a wig? "Four-and-twenty, that's enough:" Give the barber a pinch of snuff.
[Illustration: Decoration]
LITTLE Tom Tucker Sings for his supper; What shall he eat? White bread and butter. How shall he cut it, Without e'er a knife? How will he be married Without e'er a wife?
[Illustration: Decoration]
WHO comes here? "A grenadier." "What do you want?" "A pot of beer." "Where is your money?" "I've forgot." "Get you gone, You drunken sot!"
[Illustration: Decoration]
TO market, to market, to buy a plum-cake; Back again, back again, baby is late; To market, to market, to buy a plum-bun, Back again, back again, market is done.
[Illustration: Decoration]
BLOW, wind, blow! and go, mill, go! That the miller may grind his corn; That the baker may take it, And into rolls make it, And send us some hot in the morn.
[Illustration: A Man went a hunting at Reigate]
A MAN went a hunting at Reigate, And wished to leap over a high gate; Says the owner, "Go round, With your gun and your hound, For you never shall leap over my gate."
[Illustration: Decoration]
THERE was a little nobby colt, His name was Nobby Gray; His head was made of pouce straw, His tail was made of hay. He could ramble, he could trot, He could carry a mustard-pot, Round the town of Woodstock, Hey, Jenny, hey!
[Illustration: Decoration]
WE'RE all in the dumps, For diamonds are trumps; The kittens are gone to St. Paul's! The babies are bit, The moon's in a fit, And the houses are built without walls.
[Illustration: Notes.]
THE origin of the right nursery rhymes is, of course, popular, like the origin of ballads, tales (_Maerchen_), riddles, proverbs, and, indeed, of literature in general. They are probably, in England, of no great antiquity, except in certain cases, where they supply the words to some child's _ballet_, some dance game. A game may be of prehistoric antiquity, as appears in the rudimentary forms of backgammon, _Pachin_ and _Patullo_, common to Asia, and to the Aztecs, as Dr. Tylor has demonstrated. The child's game--
"Buck, buck, How many fingers do I hold up?"
was known in ancient Rome as _bucca_, though it would be audacious to infer that it arrived in Britain since the Norman Conquest. Hop-scotch is also exceedingly ancient, and the curious will find the theories of its origin in Mr. Gomme's learned work on Children's Dances and Songs, published by the Folk-Lore Society. Dr. Nicholson's book on the Folk-Lore of Children in Sutherland, still unpublished when I write, may also be consulted. One of the songs collected by Dr. Nicholson was copied down by a Danish traveller in London during the reign of Charles II. Robert Chambers's "Popular Rhymes of Scotland" is also a treasure of this kind of antiquities. It is probable that the Lowland rhymes have occasionally Gaelic counterparts, as the nursery tales certainly have, but I am unacquainted with any researches on this topic by Celtic scholars.
In Mr. Halliwell's Collection, from which this volume is abridged, no manuscript authority goes further back than the reign of Henry VIII., though King Arthur and Robin Hood are mentioned. The obscure Scottish taunt, levelled at Edward I. when besieging Berwick, is much in the manner of a nursery rhyme:--
"Kyng Edward, When thu havest Berwic, Pike thee! When thu havest geton, Dike thee!"
This, as Sir Herbert Maxwell says, "seems deficient in salt," but was felt to be irritating by the greatest of the Plantagenets. The jingles on the King of France, against the Scots in the time of James I., against the Tory, or Irish rapparee, and about the Gunpowder Plot, are of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. The Great Rebellion supplies "Hector Protector" and "The Parliament soldiers are gone to the king;" "Over the water and over the sea" (or lee) is a parody of a Jacobite ditty of 1748, and refers genially to that love of ale and wine which Prince Charles displayed as early as he showed military courage, at the age of fourteen, when he distinguished himself at the siege of Gaeta. His grandfather, James II., lives in "The rhyme for _porringer_;" his father in "Jim and George were two great lords." _Tout finit par des chansons._
Of non-historical jingles, Mr. Halliwell found traces in MSS. as old as the fifteenth century. But it would be a very rare accident that led to their being written down when nobody dreamed of studying Folk-Lore with solemnity. "Thirty days hath September" occurs in the "Return from Parnassus," of Shakspeare's date, and a few snatches, like "When I was a little boy," occur in Shakspeare himself, just as a German version of "My Minnie me slew" comes in Goethe's _Faust_. Indeed, the scraps of magical versified spells in _Maerchen_ are entirely of the character of nursery rhymes, and are of dateless antiquity. The rhyme of "Dr. Faustus" may be nearly as old as the mediaeval legend dramatised by Marlowe. The Elizabethan and Jacobean dramatists put nursery rhymes in the mouths of characters; a few jingles creep into the Miscellanies, such as "The Pills to purge Melancholy." Among these (1719) is "Tom the piper's son," who played "Over the hills and far away," a song often adapted to Jacobite uses. In 1719, when the Spanish plan of aid to James III. collapsed, pipers must have been melancholy enough.
_Melismata_ (1611) already knows the "Frog who lived in a well," and in _Deuteromelia_ (1609) occurs the "Three blind mice." On the Riddles, or _Devinettes_, chapters might be, and have been written. They go back to Samson's time, at least, and are as widely distributed as proverbs, even among Wolufs and Fijians. The most recent discussion is in Mr. Max Mueller's "Contributions to the Science of Mythology" (1897). For using "charms," like "Come, butter, come," many an old woman was burned by the wisdom of our ancestors. Such versified charms, _deducunt carmima lunam_, are the _karakias_ of the Maoris, and the _mantras_ of Indian superstition. The magical papyri of ancient Egypt are full of them. In our own rhyme, "Hiccup," regarded as a personal kind of fiend ("Animism"), is charmed away by a promise of a butter-cake. There is a collection of such things in Reginald Scot's "Discovery of Witchcraft." Thus our old nursery rhymes are smooth stones from the brook of time, worn round by constant friction of tongues long silent. We cannot hope to make new nursery rhymes, any more than we can write new fairy tales.
[Illustration: Index of First Lines]
Page A CARRION crow sat on an oak 103
A diller, a dollar 49
A farmer went trotting 246
A little cock-sparrow sat on a green tree 230
A little old man and I fell out 157
A long-tail'd pig, or a short-tail'd pig 229
A man of words and not of deeds 79
A man went a hunting at Reigate 273
A pie sat on a pear-tree 227
A sunshiny shower 82
A swarm of bees in May 82
A was an apple-pie 46
A was an Archer, and shot at a frog 45
All of a row 220
Around the green gravel the grass grows green 268
Arthur O'Bower has broken his band 124
As I walked by myself 38
As I was going by Charing Cross 37
As I was going o'er Westminster Bridge 132
As I was going to sell my eggs 268
As I was going to St. Ives 131
As I was going up Pippen-hill 209
As I went through the garden gap 132
As soft as silk, as white as milk 124
As the days lengthen 83
As Tommy Snooks and Bessy Brooks 203
BAH, bah, black sheep 240
Barber, barber, shave a pig 271
Bat, bat 172
Bessy Bell and Mary Gray 207
Betty Pringle had a little pig 229
Birch and green holly, boys 44
Black we are but much admired 130
Blow, wind, blow! and go, mill, go! 273
Blue eye beauty 202
Bounce Buckram, velvet's dear 79
Bow, wow, wow 233
Brave news is come to town 200
Bryan O'Lin, and his wife, and wife's mother 63
Burnie bee, burnie bee 220
Bye, baby bunting 148
COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO! 192
Cock Robin got up early 228
Cold and raw the north wind doth blow 117
Come, butter, come 147
Come, let's to bed 266
Come, take up your hats, and away let us haste 239
Come when you're called 44
"Croak!" said the Toad, "I'm hungry, I think" 225
Cross patch 51
Cuckoo, cherry-tree 176
Cuckoo, Cuckoo 222
Curly locks! curly locks! wilt thou be mine? 214
Curr dhoo, curr dhoo 235
Cushy cow bonny, let down thy milk 145
DAFFY-DOWN-DILLY has come up to town 269
Dame, get up and bake your pies 117
Dame, what makes your ducks to die? 231
Dance, Thumbkin, dance 175
Dance to your daddy 148
Darby and Joan were dress'd in black 270
Deedle, deedle, dumpling, my son John 191
Did you see my wife, did you see, did you see? 214
Diddledy, diddledy, dumpty 194
Ding, dong, bell 194
Doctor Faustus was a good man 48
Doctor Foster went to Glo'ster 65
Draw a pail of water 184
EARLY to bed, and early to rise 83
Eat, birds, eat, and make no waste 223
Eggs butter, bread 186
Elizabeth, Elspeth, Betsy, and Bess 133
Elsie Marley is grown so fine 94
FIDDLE-DE-DEE, fiddle-de-dee 195
Flour of England, fruit of Spain 128
For every evil under the sun 82
For want of a nail, the shoe was lost 84
Formed long ago, yet made to-day 131
Four and twenty tailors went to kill a snail 224
Friday night's dream 83
GAY go up and gay go down 172
Georgey Porgey, pudding and pie 215
Girls and boys, come out to play 267
God bless the master of this house 242
Goosey, goosey, gander 243
Great A, little a 43
Grey goose and gander 220
HANDY Spandy, Jack-a-dandy 196
Hannah Bantry in the pantry 264
He that would thrive 81
Hector Protector was dressed all in green 37
Here am I, little jumping Joan 140
Here comes a lusty wooer 210
Here sits the Lord Mayor 175
Here stands a post 188
Hey! diddle, diddle 193
Hey, my kitten, my kitten 150
Hick-a-more, Hack-a-more 124
Hickety, pickety, my black hen 222
Hickory, Dickory, Dock 176
Hickup, hickup, go away! 152
Hickup, snicup 152
"Hie, hie," says Anthony 223
Higgledy piggledy 128
Higgley Piggley 238
High diddle ding 37
Hink, minx! the old witch winks 264
Hot-cross Buns 105
How many days has my baby to play? 268
How many miles is it to Babylon? 183
Humpty Dumpty sate on a wall 129
Hush-a-bye, baby, on the tree top 149
Hushy baby, my doll, I pray you don't cry 148
I AM a gold lock 180
I doubt, I doubt, my fire is out 214
I had a little dog, and they called him Buff 219
I had a little hen, the prettiest ever seen 237
I had a little husband 213
I had a little nut-tree, nothing would it bear 35
I had a little pony 245
I have a little sister, they call her Peep, Peep 128
I love little pussy, her coat is so warm 234
I love my love with an A, because he's Agreeable 51
I love sixpence, pretty little sixpence 99
I saw a peacock with a fiery tail 141
I saw a ship a-sailing 139
I saw three ships come sailing by 118
I went to the wood and got it 123
I went up one pair of stairs 180
I would if I cou'd 134
If all the seas were one sea 270
If all the world was apple-pie 135
If I'd as much money as I could spend 112
If ifs and ands 44
If wishes were horses 78
If you love me, pop and fly 146
If you sneeze on Monday, you sneeze for danger 80
I'll sing you a song 114
I'll tell you a story 58
In fir tar is 51
In marble walls as white as milk 127
In the month of February 232
Is John Smith within? 179
JACK and Jill went up the hill 199
Jack, be nimble 171
Jack in the pulpit, out and in 206
Jack Sprat could eat no fat 206
Jacky, come give me thy fiddle 113
Jenny Wren fell sick 244
Jim and George were two great lords 40
John Cook had a little grey mare; he, haw, hum! 114
Johnny shall have a new bonnet 93
KING'S SUTTON is a pretty town 266
LADY bird, lady bird, fly away home 235
Leg over leg 234
Little Bo-peep has lost her sheep 92
Little boy blue, come, blow up your horn 241
Little girl, little girl, where have you been? 242
Little Jack Horner sat in a corner 74
Little Miss Muffet 264
Little Nancy Etticoat 130
Little Polly Flinders 114
Little Robin-Redbreast 230
Little Robin-Redbreast sat upon a tree 236
Little Tom Tucker 272
Little Tommy Tittlemouse 73
London Bridge is broken down 98
Long legs, crooked thighs 124
Love your own, kiss your own 214
MARCH winds and April showers 84
Mary had a pretty bird 236
Master I have, and I am his man 213
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John 147
Merry are the bells, and merry would they ring 104
Mistress Mary, quite contrary 50
Monday's bairn is fair of face 84
Multiplication is vexation 47
My dear, do you know 56
My father he died, but I can't tell you how 90
My lady Wind, my lady Wind 71
My little old man and I fell out 268
My maid Mary 112
My true love lives far from me 138
NATURE requires five 78
Needles and pins, needles and pins 79
O THAT I was where I would be 140
Oh, madam, I will give you the keys of Canterbury 204
Old Abram Brown is dead and gone 70
Old Betty Blue 162
Old King Cole 31
Old Mother Goose, when 67
Old Mother Hubbard 163
Old Mother Twitchett had but one eye 130
Old woman, old woman, shall we go a-shearing? 157
Once I saw a little bird 227
One misty moisty morning 87
One to make ready 186
One, two 52
Over the water, and over the sea 36
PAT-A-CAKE, pat-a-cake, baker's man! 47
Pease-pudding hot 179
Peter Piper picked a peck 146
Peter White will ne'er go right 136
Please to remember 35
Polly put the kettle on 92
Poor old Robinson Crusoe 38
Punch and Judy 71
Pussicat, wussicat, with a white foot 194
Pussy-cat, pussy-cat, where have you been? 221
Pussy-cat sits by the fire 232
Pussy sits behind the fire 236
QUEEN ANNE, Queen Anne, you sit in the sun 172
RABBIT, rabbit, rabbit-pie 149
Rain, rain, go away 270
Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross (1) 182
Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross (2) 182
Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross 184
Ride away, ride away, Johnny shall ride 116
Ring the bell 179
Robert Barnes, fellow fine 223
Robin and Richard were two pretty men 66
Robin the Bobbin, the big-bellied Ben 66
Rock-a-bye, baby, thy cradle is green 150
Rosemary green 200
Rub a dub dub 196
SAYS t'auld man tit oak tree 91
See a pin and pick it up 78
See, saw, Margery Daw (1) 185
See, saw, Margery Daw (2) 185
See saw, sack-a-day 40
See-saw sacradown 184
Simple Simon met a pieman 58
Sing a song of sixpence 93
Solomon Grundy 74
Some little mice sat in a barn to spin 220
St. Swithin's day, if thou dost rain 78
Swan swam over the sea 152
Sylvia, sweet as morning air 200
TAFFY was a Welshman, Taffy was a thief 72
Tell tale, tit 44
The art of good driving's a paradox quite 83
The cock doth crow 222
The cuckoo's a fine bird 225
The dove says "Coo, coo, what shall I do?" 233
The fair maid who, the first of May 83
The fox and his wife they had a great strife 88
The girl in the lane, that couldn't speak plain 264
The hart he loves the high wood 244
The King of France, and four thousand men 35
The King of France went up the hill 35
The lion and the unicorn 62
The man in the moon 55
The man in the wilderness asked me 137
The north wind doth blow 100