35 Nursery Rhyme Origin Stories That Tell Interesting Tales

"Baa Baa Black Sheep"

This poem is allegedly about the medieval wool tax imposed by King Edward I, under which he earned one-third of the proceeds of every sack. Having three sacks of wool meant that one was for the king, so to speak. Additionally, since black sheep wool couldn't be coloured, it sold for less money, making it less profitable.

"Baa, baa, black sheep,
Have you any wool?
Yes, sir, yes, sir,
Three bags full;
One for my master,
One for my dame,
And one for the little boy
Who lives down the lane."

"Little Miss Muffet"

Patience Muffet, often known as Little Miss Muffet, was a little child. Her dad, Dr. Muffet, was a well-known entomologist who published the first academic list of British insects between 1553 and 1604. Little Miss Muffet was eating curds and whey for breakfast when she was startled by one of his spiders and fled. According to Dr. Muffet's birthdate, this specific Little Miss Muffet nursery rhyme is believed to have been written in the late 16th century.

"Little Miss Muffet
Sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey;
There came a big spider,
Who sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away."

"Three Blind Mice"

Three Blind Mice was first recorded in writing in 1609. Three Protestant allies known as "the three blind mice" were charged with conspiring to overthrow Queen Mary I. The queen who shared extensive estates with her husband, King Philip of Spain, is referred to as the "farmer's wife." The three guys were burned at the stake.

"Three blind mice. Three blind mice.
See how they run. See how they run.
They all ran after the farmer's wife,
Who cut off their tails with a carving knife,
Did you ever see such a sight in your life,
As three blind mice?"

"One for Sorrow"

The poem is based on ornithomancy myths about magpies, which were thought to be a sign of bad luck in various cultures and in Britain at least as early as the seventeenth century. The poem was originally mentioned in a remark in John Brand's Observations on Popular Antiquities of Lincolnshire, which was published about 1780.

"One for sorrow,
Two for joy,
Three for a girl,
Four for a boy,
Five for silver,
Six for gold,
Seven for a secret never to be told."

"Rub a Dub Dub"

This poem originally dealt with sexual amusement. "Three maids" were in a tub in the story. The limerick was about a peep show where guests may see ladies wash, a common feature at traveling fairs. The baker, the candlestick maker, and the butcher were among the onlookers. Later, the Victorians modified the terms to place the three men in the tub and referred to themselves as cleaning it up.

"Rub-a-dub-dub,
Three men in a tub,
And who do you think they be?
The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker,
And all of them out to sea."

"Doctor Foster"

The origins of this rhyme may go back more than 700 years, to the reign of King Edward I, despite being first printed in 1844. Edward was a powerful guy, stood over six feet tall. He was frequently called Longshanks. Edward was also regarded as a smart and knowledgeable man, earning the moniker Dr. Foster; the name's origins are lost to time. Edward, who was not a big friend of the Welsh, was probably at Gloucester because of its advantageous location at a significant River Seven crossing into Wales.
According to legend, the king rode his horse in the wrong direction after mistaking a a huge ditch for a minor puddle when he arrived during a storm. Infuriated and perhaps humiliated by the ordeal, he vowed never to return to the town when his horse and rider became stuck in the muck and had to be dragged out.

"Doctor Foster went to Gloucester,
In a shower of rain;
He stepped in a puddle,
Right up to his middle,
And never went there again."

"Jack and Jill"

This well-known rhyme, originally titled "Jack and Gill," describes King Charles I's attempt to enact a reform of liquid taxes. Jacks and gills were apparently used as units of measurement. Charles lowered the volume of these measures after Parliament rejected the tax.

"Jack and Gill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water;
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And Gill came tumbling after."

"Row, Row, Row Your Boat"

The song's first publication dates back to 1852, when it was released with words that are close to those used today but a radically different music. Two years later, it was issued once more with new music and the same words. The Franklin Square Song Collection initially included the words and the contemporary music in 1881, naming Eliphalet Oram Lyte but leaving it unclear as to whether or not he was the composer or adaptor.

"Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream."

"Roses are Red"

A children's rhyme and love poem, it has produced several hilarious and parodic variations and has come to be associated with Valentine's Day.
The rhyme is based on literary devices that may be found in Edmund Spenser's epic poem The Faerie Queene from 1590.

"Roses are red
Violets are blue,
Sugar is sweet
And so are you."

"Akai Kutsu"

The widely accepted idea holds that the lyrics were inspired by a real-life event. Iwasaki Kimi, a young woman from Fushimi in Shizuoka Prefecture, is thought to have served as the inspiration for the image of the woman wearing red shoes.
In the beginning, Kimi's mother, Kayo Iwasaki, raised her alone until relocating to Hokkaido and marrying Shirou Suzuki. When Kimi was 3 years old, her parents moved to a Hokkaido commoner's farm, which at the time was being closely scrutinized as a component of the Socialist movement. However, farming was a hard life, so Kayo gave Kimi's upbringing to a married American missionary couple named Hewitt, using her father-in-law Sano Yasuyoshi as a middleman.
The Hewitt family eventually made the decision to move back to the United States, but they were unable to bring Kimi with them since she had the then-incurable disease tuberculosis. Instead, they sent her to the church's orphanage in Azabu, Tokyo, and left without her. Kimi passed away at the orphanage at age nine, never getting to see her mother again. Kayo believed during her whole life that Kimi had traveled to America with the Hewitts, but in reality, Kimi had passed away from tuberculosis at a Tokyo orphanage.

"A young girl with red shoes
was taken away by a foreigner.
She rode on a ship from Yokohama pier
taken away by a foreigner
I imagine right now she has become blue-eyed
living in that foreigner’s land.
Every time I see red shoes, I think of her
And every time I meet a foreigner, I think of her."

"If Wishes Were Horses, Beggars Would Ride"

The lines "If wishes were thrushes beggars would feed birds" from William Camden's "Remains of a Greater Worke, Concerning Britaine," published in 1605, are the rhyme's first recognized predecessor. The phrase "and wishes were horses, pure [poor] folks wald ride" originally appeared in James Carmichael's Proverbs in Scots, published in 1628. "If wishes would bide, beggars would ride" is the first time beggars are mentioned in English proverbs, appearing in John Ray's Collection of English Proverbs in 1670.

"If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
If turnips were watches, I'd wear one by my side.
If "ifs" and "ands" were pots and pans,
There'd be no work for tinkers' hands."

"Jack Sprat"

Jack Sprat could have been King Charles I, who was left "lean" when parliament refused to tax him but was free to "wipe the plate clean" after dissolving parliament with his queen Henrietta Maria, according to history writer Linda Alchin.

"Jack Sprat could eat no fat,
His wife could eat no lean.
And so between them both, you see,
They licked the platter clean."

"Old McDonald Had a Farm"

The first known version of the song is "In the Fields in Frost and Snow," which appears in Thomas d'Urfey's 1706 opera "The Kingdom of the Birds or Wonders of the Sun." It's unclear if this is where the song first appeared or if his interpretation was based on an older folk tune. The animals shift from verse to verse, and the rhythm is quite similar to current renditions, but the melody is in a different minor key.

"Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O!
And on his farm he had a cow, E-I-E-I-O!
With a moo-moo here and a moo-moo there,
Here a moo, there a moo,
Everywhere a moo-moo,
Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O!"

"Georgie Porgy"

It is believed that the "Georgie Porgie" was actually the Prince Regent, afterwards known as George IV. George, who was a little on the tubby side and weighed more than 20 stone with a waist of 50 inches (Georgie Porgie, pudding and pie), was often made fun of in the popular press of the day because of his appearance.

"Georgie Porgie, pudding and pie,
Kissed the girls and made them cry,
When the girls came out to play,
Georgie Porgie ran away."

"John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt"

The verses of the nursery rhyme "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt" are American in origin and may be an allusion to the massive influx of German immigrants throughout American history. Both the last name Schmidt and the last name prefix "heimer" have Germanic roots. It is a popular children's rhyme that is sometimes referred to as a "bus song." In order to parody the lengthy names that are frequently encountered in this language, the pseudo-German term "Jingleheimer" was presumably utilized.

"John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt
His name is my name too
When ever we go out
The people always shout
There goes
John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt."

"Star Light Star Bright"

The rhyme which alludes to the idea that you can wish upon a star, is said to have its roots in late 19th-century America.

"Star light, star bright,
First star I see tonight;
I wish I may, I wish I might
Have the wish I wish tonight."

"The Grand old Duke of York"

The Battle of Wakefield, which took place on December 30, 1460, and Richard, Duke of York, the pretender to the throne of England and Protector of England are said to be referenced in the nursery rhyme. Richard set up a defensive posture against the Lancastrian army while the Duke of York and his army marched to the castle he owned at Sandal.

"Oh, the grand old Duke of York,
He had ten thousand men;
He marched them up to the top of the hill,
And he marched them down again."

"Lavender’s Blue"

Mr. Robert B. Waltz claims "The singer tells his girlfriend that since he loves her, she must also love him. He describes a valley where a young guy and a maid had camped together and advises them to follow suit". This broadside version, according to Sandra Stahl Dolby, is about a girl named Nell who keeps the singer's bed warm.

"Lavender's blue, dilly dilly, lavender's green,
When I am king, dilly dilly, you shall be queen:
Who told you so, dilly dilly, who told you so?
'Twas mine own heart, dilly dilly, that told me so."

"Jack be Nimble"

The rhyme was initially discovered in a manuscript from approximately 1815, and James Orchard Halliwell began collecting it in the middle of the nineteenth century.
Jumping candlesticks was both a sort of sport and fate reading. It was believed that clearing a candle without putting out the flame would bring good fortune.

"Jack be nimble,
Jack be quick,
Jack jump over
The candlestick."

"How Many Miles to Babylon?"

Although the poem was not written down until the nineteenth century, some have speculated that Caledon during the Crusades is what is meant by the allusion to Cantelon in the Scottish version. While the city was a frequent reference, notably in seventeenth-century England, and "Can I reach there by candlelight?" was a familiar phrase in the sixteenth century, Babylon may be a corruption of "Babyland." It refers to the time of day when a candle needed to be lit as the daylight dwindled.

"How many miles to Babylon?
Three score miles and ten.
Can I get there by candle-light?
Yes, and back again ...
If your heels are nimble and your toes are light,
You may get there by candle-light"