70 Fun Facts About Nursery Rhyme

In 'Humpty Dumpty', who could not put Humpty together again?

The rhyme never actually says he is an egg; it was probably a riddle to which 'an egg' was the answer.

Which author turned Humpty Dumpty into a talking egg in an 1871 book?

He appears in Through the Looking-Glass and lectures Alice on what words mean.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, what did 'humpty dumpty' mean in the 17th century?

In the 18th century it was also slang for a short, clumsy person, which helped the riddle misdirect.

Which English town's tourist board claimed Humpty Dumpty was a cannon used in a 1648 siege?

The cannon supposedly sat on the wall of St Mary-at-the-Walls church during the English Civil War; there is no evidence for the story.

What did Jack and Jill go up the hill to fetch?

Jack falls and breaks his crown, and later verses were added in the 19th century to carry the story on.

How was Jill's name spelled in the earliest printed version of 'Jack and Jill'?

The accompanying woodcut showed two boys at the foot of the hill, not a boy and a girl.

In a later verse, what does Jack use to mend his broken head?

That compress was a real household cure for bruises at the time.

Who wrote 'Mary Had a Little Lamb', first published in 1830?

She was a Boston-based editor who later campaigned successfully to make Thanksgiving a national holiday.

'Mary Had a Little Lamb' was the first thing recorded on which invention?

Edison recited it in 1877, then re-enacted the recording in 1927; the later version still survives.

Which industrialist bought the 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' schoolhouse and moved it to Sudbury, Massachusetts?

The Redstone School now sits in a churchyard on the grounds of Longfellow's Wayside Inn.

The words of 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star' come from an 1806 poem by which writer?

The poem was called 'The Star' and appeared in Rhymes for the Nursery, written with her sister Ann.

Which composer wrote variations on the French melody used for 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star'?

The same tune is used for the alphabet song and 'Baa, Baa, Black Sheep'.

Which Alice in Wonderland character recites the parody 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat'?

He says he was singing it at a concert when the Queen accused him of murdering the time.

How many bags of wool does the black sheep have?

One for the master, one for the dame, and one for the little boy who lives down the lane.

One theory says 'Baa, Baa, Black Sheep' is a complaint about a medieval tax on what?

The 'Great Custom' of 1275 lasted into the 15th century; the theory was floated in a 1930 book about the 'real personages' of Mother Goose.

In 'Hey Diddle Diddle', which animal jumped over the moon?

The little dog laughed to see such sport, and the dish ran away with the spoon.

What was Little Miss Muffet eating when the spider arrived?

The rhyme was first printed in 1805; nobody agrees what a tuffet is, though it probably meant a grassy mound.

What was the field of Dr Thomas Muffet, sometimes said to be Little Miss Muffet's father?

He died in 1604, two centuries before the rhyme appeared, which is why the Opies were sceptical.

How many fiddlers did Old King Cole call for?

He also called for his pipe and his bowl; the earliest printed version dates from 1709.

The legendary Welsh king sometimes claimed as the original Old King Cole was named ...

His name translates roughly as 'Old Cole'; a 12th-century Reading cloth merchant called Cole-brook is another candidate.

What do folklore scholars think of the idea that 'Ring a Ring o' Roses' is about the plague?

The explanation only appeared in the mid-20th century, centuries after the plague, and older versions of the song do not match it.

Which Norse king is sometimes credited with pulling down London Bridge in about 1014?

Another theory holds that the 'fair lady' refers to a child buried in the bridge's foundations; neither is proven.

In 'Hickory Dickory Dock', what does the clock strike before the mouse runs down?

The earliest version, in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book, opened 'Hickere, Dickere Dock'.

In 'Three Blind Mice', what does the farmer's wife use to cut off their tails?

The round was printed as early as 1609, in a collection edited by Thomas Ravenscroft, with very different words.

'Three Blind Mice' has been read as a reference to which monarch executing three bishops?

The Oxford Martyrs, Ridley, Latimer and Cranmer, were burned at the stake, not blinded.

According to the rhyme, what should Little Bo-Peep do about her lost sheep?

In a later verse she finds them, but they have left their tails behind them, a nod to the docking of lambs' tails.

Jack Sprat could eat no fat, and his wife could eat no ...

Between them they licked the platter clean; the saying was already an English proverb by 1639.

Where did Old Mother Hubbard go to fetch her poor dog a bone?

The 1805 book is attributed to Sarah Catherine Martin, who wrote it while staying at Kitley House in Devon.

What did Little Jack Horner pull out of his Christmas pie?

Nineteenth-century writers claimed the real Jack Horner was a Tudor steward who pocketed the deeds to a manor hidden in a pie sent to Henry VIII.

The 'real' Jack Horner was said to be steward to the last abbot of which abbey?

The story goes that he lifted the deeds to the manor of Mells from a pie meant as a bribe for Henry VIII.

The name Mother Goose entered English through the translation of fairy tales by which French author?

His 1695 collection was subtitled Contes de ma Mère l'Oye; the Boston 'Mrs Goose' story is a later American invention.

Georgie Porgie kissed the girls and made them ...

An 1853 variant called him Rowley Powley and had him eating pumpkin pie instead of pudding and pie.

Apart from jack-in-the-boxes, where is the tune of 'Pop Goes the Weasel' most often heard?

It is also the classic jack-in-the-box tune; in Victorian slang, to 'pop' something was to pawn it.

The 'Eagle' on City Road in 'Pop Goes the Weasel' is thought to be what kind of establishment?

The Eagle Tavern was rebuilt as a music hall in 1825 and now has the verse painted on a plaque outside.

How many blackbirds were baked in the pie in 'Sing a Song of Sixpence'?

The earliest version had 'naughty boys' in the pie, not birds at all.

In 'Sing a Song of Sixpence', where was the king?

The queen was in the parlour eating bread and honey, and the maid was in the garden hanging out the clothes.

Which pirate is falsely said to have used 'Sing a Song of Sixpence' as a coded recruiting song?

The Wikipedia article is blunt about it: he had nothing to do with the song.

How many men did the Grand Old Duke of York march up the hill?

The most-cited candidate is Prince Frederick, second son of George III, whose Flanders campaign of 1793-94 went badly.

Where is Little Boy Blue when the sheep are in the meadow and the cow is in the corn?

The rhyme may be echoed in King Lear, when Edgar as Mad Tom talks of a sleeping shepherd whose sheep are in the corn.

Wee Willie Winkie is a rhyme from which country?

Poet William Miller expanded an existing verse into a five-stanza poem in 1841, calling Willie 'The Scottish Nursery Morpheus'.

'Row, Row, Row Your Boat' is usually sung as what kind of song?

The words were first printed in 1852 with a completely different tune; the familiar melody arrived in 1881.

In 'Hush, Little Baby', what is the first thing Mama promises to buy?

The lullaby is thought to come from the Southern United States, and each verse plans for the previous gift failing.

In 'Rock-a-bye Baby', where is the cradle?

A 1791 edition adds the moral: 'This may serve as a warning to the proud and ambitious, who climb so high that they generally fall at last.'

What is the Itsy Bitsy Spider called in the UK?

Its earliest known printing was in a 1910 book about travelling in Baja California, where it is called the 'Spider Song'.

What grows in Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary's garden alongside silver bells?

And pretty maids all in a row; the earliest printed version is from the 1740s.

In 'This Little Piggy', what did the third little piggy have?

The rhyme is a fingerplay: one piggy per toe, ending with a tickle on the sole of the foot.

What does the pieman ask Simple Simon to show him first?

Simon replies 'Sir, I haven't any', which is the whole point of the joke.

Doctor Foster went to which city 'in a shower of rain'?

He stepped in a puddle right up to his middle; one story ties it to Edward I falling off his horse there.

What did the Queen of Hearts make, all on a summer's day?

The Knave stole them, and the poem became the basis for the trial scene near the end of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Complete the counting rhyme: 'One, two, buckle my shoe; three, four, ...'

Five, six, pick up sticks; seven, eight, lay them straight; nine, ten, a big fat hen.

Who are the three men in a tub in 'Rub-a-dub-dub'?

The 14th-century original was rather less innocent, and Victorian versions cleaned it up.

The original 'Rub-a-dub-dub' had which trio in the tub?

The rhyme mocked respectable tradesmen ogling the maids at a fair; Victorian versions cleaned it up.

In 'Goosey Goosey Gander', what does the narrator do to the old man who wouldn't say his prayers?

The rhyme is set 'upstairs and downstairs and in my lady's chamber'.

In 'Ding Dong Bell', who put pussy in the well?

Tommy Stout pulled her out; a version of the refrain appears in Shakespeare's The Tempest.

What did Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son steal?

The pig was eaten and Tom was beaten, and he went crying down the street.

In the birthday rhyme that starts with a child 'fair of face', which day's child 'is full of woe'?

An 1877 variant flipped it, making Wednesday's child 'sour and sad' and Thursday's 'merry and glad'.

On which day of the week was Solomon Grundy born?

He is christened, married, taken ill, worse, dead and buried by the following Sunday.

Where did Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater keep his wife?

He kept her in a pumpkin shell 'very well'; a Scottish version has him put her in the wall and let the mice eat her.

In 'Pat-a-cake', which letter is the cake marked with?

The B is for Baby, and the whole thing goes in the oven 'for Baby and me'.

What did the old woman who lived in a shoe give her children?

Queen Caroline, wife of George II and mother of eight, is one candidate for the old woman.

What is the name of the child hiding under the baking pan in 'Ladybird, Ladybird'?

Ladybirds are told to fly home in similar rhymes across Europe; the German one calls it a Marienkäfer, 'Mary bug'.

Which London church plays the tune of 'Oranges and Lemons' on its bells four times a day?

The bells ring at 9 am, noon, 3 pm and 6 pm; the church was bombed in the Blitz, which stopped them for a time.

What is the traditional answer to 'As I was going to St Ives', with the man and his seven wives?

Only the narrator is going to St Ives; the others were met coming the other way. A similar puzzle appears in the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus of about 1650 BC.

'Yankee Doodle' is the official state song of which US state?

It was written around 1755 by a British army surgeon mocking colonial troops, and served as a de facto US anthem before 1931.

In the 1770s, what was a 'macaroni', as in 'called it macaroni'?

The macaroni wig was an extreme rococo fashion much mocked in the London press, so Doodle sticking a feather in his cap was a joke at his expense.

In what year was Tommy Thumb's Song Book, the first English nursery-rhyme collection, published?

Publisher Mary Cooper's little books made such songs known as 'Tommy Thumb's songs'; the earliest 'Hickory Dickory Dock' is in the sequel.

Which married couple compiled The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes?

Their 1951 dictionary is still the definitive study, and it debunks most of the 'secret history' theories about famous rhymes.

What is the Roud Index, the number often listed beside a nursery rhyme?

Steve Roud's index assigns one number per song regardless of variants, so 'Humpty Dumpty' is 13026 and 'Three Blind Mice' is 3753.

Who was the first to use the term 'Mother Goose' for nursery rhymes, in a 1780 London compilation?

Carnan was publisher John Newbery's stepson; his book was titled Mother Goose's Melody, or Sonnets for the Cradle.

In which 1698 play does the earliest recorded version of 'Pat-a-cake' appear?

Thomas d'Urfey's play makes it one of the oldest surviving English nursery rhymes, though most were not written down until the 18th century.