COMPARATIVE STUDIES IN NURSERY RHYMES COMPARATIVE STUDIES IN NURSERY RHYMES BY LINA ECKENSTEIN AUTHOR OF "WOMAN UNDER MONASTICISM" _There were more things in Mrs. Gurton's eye, Mayhap, than are dreamed of in our philosophy_ C. S. CALVERLEY [Illustration] LONDON DUCKWORTH & CO. 3 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN 1906 TO THE GENTLE READER The walls of the temple of King Sety at Abydos in Upper Egypt are decorated with sculptured scenes which represent the cult of the gods and the offerings brought to them. In a side chapel there is depicted the following curious scene. A dead figure lies extended on a bier; sorrowing hawks surround him; a flying hawk reaches down a seal amulet from above. Had I succeeded in procuring a picture of the scene, it would stand reproduced here; for the figure and his mourners recalled the quaint little woodcut of a toy-book which told the tale of the Death and Burial of Cock Robin. The sculptures of Sety date from the fourteenth century before Christ; the knell of the robin can be traced back no further than the middle of the eighteenth century A.D. Can the space that lies between be bridged over, and the conception of the dead robin be linked on to that of the dead hawk? However that may be, the sight of the sculptured scene strengthened my resolve to place some of the coincidences of comparative nursery lore before the gentle reader. It lies with him to decide whether the wares are such as to make a further instalment desirable. _23 September, 1906._ CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. FIRST APPEARANCE OF RHYMES IN PRINT 1 II. EARLY REFERENCES 13 III. RHYMES AND POPULAR SONGS 23 IV. RHYMES IN TOY-BOOKS 36 V. RHYMES AND BALLADS 45 VI. RHYMES AND COUNTRY DANCES 57 VII. THE GAME OF "SALLY WATERS" 67 VIII. "THE LADY OF THE LAND" 78 IX. CUSTOM RHYMES 89 X. RIDDLE-RHYMES 104 XI. CUMULATIVE PIECES 115 XII. CHANTS OF NUMBERS 134 XIII. CHANTS OF THE CREED 143 XIV. HEATHEN CHANTS OF THE CREED 152 XV. SACRIFICIAL HUNTING 171 XVI. BIRD SACRIFICE 185 XVII. THE ROBIN AND THE WREN 200 XVIII. CONCLUDING REMARKS 215 LIST OF FOREIGN COLLECTIONS 221 ALPHABETICAL INDEX 223 _... To my gaze the phantoms of the Past, The cherished fictions of my boyhood, rise:_ * * * * * _The House that Jack built--and the Malt that lay Within the House--the Rat that ate the Malt-- The Cat, that in that sanguinary way Punished the poor thing for its venial fault-- The Worrier-Dog--the Cow with crumpled horn-- And then--ah yes! and then--the Maiden all forlorn!_