"There was an old woman swept her house and found a silver penny,
And she went to market and bought a kid;
But when she came to drive it home kid would not go.
She went a little further and met a stick, and said to it,
'Stick, stick, beat kid, kid won't go, 'tis a'most midnight, and
hame I must go.'
But the stick would not.
She went a little further and met a fire.
'Fire, fire, burn stick, stick won't beat kid, kid won't go, 'tis
a'most midnight, and hame I must go.'
But the fire would not.
She went a little further and met with water.
'Water, water, quench fire, fire won't burn stick,' etc.
But the water would not.
She went a little further and met an ox.
'Ox, ox, drink water,' etc.
She went a little further and met a butcher, etc.
She went a little further and met a rope, etc.
She went a little further and met some grease, etc.
'Grease, grease, grease rope.'
She went a little further and met a rat.
'Rat, rat, eat grease,' etc.
She went a little further and met a cat.
'Cat, cat, kill rat,' etc.
The cat began to bite the rat, the rat began to eat the grease, the
grease began to grease the rope, the rope to hang the butcher,
the butcher to kill the ox, the ox to drink the water, the water
to quench the fire, the fire to burn the stick, the stick to
beat the kid, and so the kid went home."
In other accounts of the same tale the kid is a pig, the silver penny a
crooked sixpence; the pig would not go over the stile, and the old woman
could not get her old man's supper ready.
The several prefigurations are not difficult to make out. Very many of
the babblings put into the mouths of English children are of foreign
origin; the story of "The Kid" was known in Leipsic and sung by German
children in 1731, very possibly coming in this way from the Jewish
colony.
In Denmark it is also a favourite with the school children.
The other Jewish rhyme, kept in remembrance by modern Jews, is printed
at the end of their Passover Service in English and in Hebrew.
ONE is known as the Chad Gadyâ. It is an arithmetical poem, and begins--
"Who knoweth One?"
"I know One, One is God, who is over heaven and earth!"
"Who knoweth two?"
"I know two, two tables of the Covenant, but One is God, who
reigneth over heaven and earth!"
When the Latin of our churches was on the lips of everyone in the Middle
Ages, an adaptation of this childish creed was taught to little
Christians, beginning--
"Unus est Deus,"
but with a Christian theme.
CHAPTER IV.
AN ANCIENT ENGLISH RHYME
From which came the well-known nursery tale of--
"A frog, who would a-wooing go.
Hey, oh! says Rowly.
Whether his mother would let him or no,
With a Rowly Powly Gammon and Spinach,
Hey, oh! says Anthony Rowly."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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