Fairy Tales, Nursery Rhymes, Folk Tales, and Folklore

Monday's Child

Monday's child is		Fair of face
Tuesday's child is		Full of grace
Wednesday's child is		Full of woe
Thursday's child has		Far to go
Friday's child is		Loving and giving
Saturday's child		Works hard for a living
But the child that was born on the Sabbath day is		Bonny and blithe (or Witty and wise) and good and gay

Solomon Grundy

Monday		Born
Tuesday		Christened
Wednesday		Married
Thursday		Took ill
Friday		Got worse
Saturday		Died
Sunday		Buried

I know an old lady who swallowed a ...

Fly	(I don't know why)
Spider	(that wriggled … inside her)
Bird	(how absurd)
Cat	(fancy that)
Dog	(what a hog)
Cow	(I don't know how)
Horse	(she died, of course)

Cock Robin

Who killed Cock Robin?		I, said the sparrow		With my bow and arrow
Who saw him die?		I, said the fly		With my little eye
Who'll dig his grave?		I, said the owl		With my pick and shovel
Who'll toll the bell?		I, said the bull		Because I can pull

(There are other verses ...)

Dem Bones

In order of connection

Toe, foot, ankle, leg, knee, thigh, hip, back, neck, head; finger, hand, arm, shoulder

Magpies

There are lots of different versions of this traditional rhyme. This is probably the best–known one; it's the one that was used as the theme to the children's television programme Magpie (up to and including the number seven) – and the one that's given on Wikipedia.

One for	Two for	Three for	Four for	Five for	Six for
Sorrow	Joy	a Girl	a Boy	Silver	Gold

Seven for

a Secret never to be told

Eight's

a Wish

Nine's

a Kiss

Ten's

a Bird you must not miss

The Crooked Man

There was a crooked man, and ...

he walked		a crooked mile
he found		a crooked sixpence
upon		a crooked stile
he bought		a crooked cat
which caught		a crooked mouse
and they all lived together in		a little crooked house

Green Grow the Rushes, O

This is a traditional English song, once widely found in the West Country (particularly in Somerset). It was collected by both Cecil J. Sharp and Sabine Baring–Gould, two of the best–known English folk song collectors, in the early 20th century. It may not be particularly well known today, and no doubt partly for this reason it rarely comes up in quizzes. But I believe it's worth recording here.

Green Grow the Rushes is a cumulative song – identical in structure to the much better–known Twelve Days of Christmas, listing twelve sets of items with a different number of items in each set. The following table lists the sets, in the version given by Wikipedia:

Twelve		Apostles	Eleven		That went to Heaven	Ten		Commandments
Nine		Bright shiners	Eight		April rainers	Seven		Stars in the sky
Six		Proud walkers	Five		Symbols at your door	Four		Gospel makers
Three		The rivals	Two		Lily–white boys	One		(is one, and all alone)

Please click here for my notes on what all these things might refer to (according to Wikipedia).

Wikipedia gives five alternative titles for Green Grow the Rushes, O: The Twelve Prophets, The Carol of the Twelve Numbers, The Teaching Song, The Dilly Song, and The Ten Commandments. It should not be confused with Green Grow the Rashes, a poem by Robert Burns and the first such to be set to music. The Burns song was recorded by the Irish folk group Altan, as the second track on their 2000 album, Another Sky – with the English title ('rushes' rather than 'rashes').

Oranges and Lemons

Oranges and Lemons, say the bells of		St. Clement's
You owe me five farthings, say the bells of		St. Martin's
When will you pay me, say the bells of		Old Bailey
When I grow rich, say the bells of		Shoreditch
When will that be, say the bells of		Stepney
I do not know, says the great bell of		Bow

Writers (and collectors)

Prolific Danish writer, 1805–75, whose works included scores of fairy tales, published between 1827 and 1872 (some sources say 168, others list over 200) – including The Princess and the Pea (1831), Thumbelina (1835), The Emperor's New Clothes (1837), The Little Mermaid (1837), The Ugly Duckling (1843), The Snow Queen (1844), The Little Match Girl (1845), The Red Shoes (1845)		Hans Christian Andersen
Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Rumpelstiltskin: among over 200 folk tales collected and published in 1812 by		The Brothers Grimm
Husband and wife team of folklorists, who applied modern techniques to children's literature, which they summarised in The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (1951) and The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren (1959)		Peter and Iona Opie
French collector and publisher of fairy tales (1628-1703), including Little Red Riding Hood (Le Petit Chaperon Rouge), Cinderella (Cendrillon), Puss in Boots (Le Chat Botté), Sleeping Beauty (La Belle au Bois Dormant), Bluebeard (La Barbe Bleue)		Charles Perrault
Goldilocks and the Three Bears: written by		Robert Southey

Other

Sleeping Beauty's name (in Tchaikovsky's ballet and in the Disney film)			Aurora
Sleeping Beauty slept for			100 years
The old woman who lived in a shoe fed her children on			Broth (without any bread)
Cannibalistic ogress in Russian folklore			Baber Yaga
Monstrous horned goblin–dog of Yorkshire folklore			Barghest
Murdered several wives for showing undue curiosity in a locked room			Bluebeard
Giant lumberjack in American folklore: protagonist of various tall tales about his superhuman labours; customarily accompanied by Babe the blue ox			Paul Bunyan
Believed the sky was falling when an acorn fell on his head (title character of a traditional folk tale)			Chicken Licken
Daughter of Baron Hardup			Cinderella
National hero of Denmark – originating in a legendary knight of Charlemagne who appears in many epic poems of mediaeval France			Holger Danske
According to the traditional song or nursery rhyme, the Muffin Man lives on			Drury Lane
Prince Frederick Augustus, second son of George III, served as Commander–in–Chief of the army for many years, and is celebrated in a nursery rhyme as			(The Grand Old) Duke of York
When Lucy Lockett lost her pocket, it was found by			Kitty Fisher
Title character taunts his pursuers with the lines "Run, run, as fast as you can! You can't catch me, I'm the ... "			Gingerbread man
His final words (in some versions) are "I'm quarter gone ... I'm half gone ... I'm three–quarters gone ... I'm all gone!"
Left a trail of breadcrumbs so that they could find their way home			Hansel & Gretel
Traditional English pantomime: Columbine's lover (both are invisible to mortal eyes)			Harlequin
Traditional English story, features a cow called Milky–White			Jack and the Beanstalk
Who put Pussy in the well?			Little Johnny Thin
Who pulled her out?			Little Tommy Stout
Title character gives up her tongue, and with it her beautiful voice, in exchange for a chance to gain an immortal soul			The Little Mermaid
Subject of Dublin's unofficial anthem (probably of Music Hall origin, possibly based on an earlier folk song) – commemorated by a statue in Grafton Street, unveiled 1988 and commemorated on 13 June (the day on which someone of this name died in 1699 – although there is no evidence that the song is based on a real person); statue known locally as "the Tart with the Cart"			Molly Malone
Pease Pudding Hot (or Pease Porridge Hot): age of the pudding (or porridge)			Nine days
A popular American children's counting rhyme (dating at least from 1806): Vintery, mintery, cutery corn / Apple seed and apple thorn / Wire, briar, limber lock / Three geese in a flock / One flew East, one flew West, and ...			One flew over the cuckoo's nest
How much money did Simple Simon have?			None
Magic words first used in the story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves – from the Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights) – opens the mouth of a cave in which the forty thieves have hidden a treasure			Open Sesame
In Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son, the only tune that Tom could play was			Over the Hills and Far Away
Fairy tale collected and published by Charles Perrault: the youngest son of a miller inherits nothing but a talking cat, but the cat wins a princess's hand in marriage for his master, by convincing the King that he (the master) is the Marquis de Carabas			Puss in Boots
Owner of the grey mare that Old Uncle Tom Cobleigh and his companions took to Widecombe Fair (in the popular folk song)			Tom (Tam) Pearce
Said to have inspired the nursery rhyme Ring a ring o'roses			Great Plague
Dwarf who offered to help a miller's daughter spin straw into gold; Tom Tit Tot is the title character of an English version			Rumpelstiltskin
Girl imprisoned in a tower, who let down her long hair for her prince to climb up			Rapunzel
Tree associated with magic and witchcraft – said to be the one from which the Devil hanged his mother – used for druids' staffs, dowsing, magic wands, etc. etc.			Rowan
Went to sea with silver buckles on his knee (according to a Northumbrian folk song)			Bobby Shaftoe
Leprechaun's occupation			Shoemaker
Black Peter (Zwarte Piet): black–faced companion, in Holland, to			Sinterklaas (Santa Claus)
Nursery rhyme character who could eat no fat (his wife could eat no lean)			Jack Spratt
Sennachie (Ireland, Scotland)			Storyteller
Number of men that the Grand Old Duke of York had			10,000
Little girl found inside the petals of a flower, who sleeps in a walnut–shell cradle (in a story by Hans Christian Andersen)			Thumbelina
Garlic, Bibles, crucifixes, rosaries, holy water, and mirrors have all been seen in various folkloric traditions as means of warding against or identifying			Vampires
Ran upstairs and downstairs in his night–gown			Wee Willie Winkie
Old Uncle Tom Cobleigh and his companions (see Sets), in the popular folk song, were going to			Widecombe Fair
Aladdin's mother: runs a Chinese laundry in Peking			Widow Twankey
Common name for the natural phenomenon also known (without any real "intellectual credibility", according to Wikipedia) as ignis fatuus			Will–o'–the–wisp or Jack–o'–Lantern
Aladdin's brother, who works in the laundry			Wishy Washy
On Ilkley Moor ba'ht 'at: "ba'ht 'at" means			Without a hat

© Haydn Thompson 2017–22