Hey Diddle Diddle: Origins, #2

By C L Evans

A look at how some of our favourite nursery rhymes originated. Did you know Dr. Foster was King Edward, and that Humpty Dumpty was not actually an egg? Learn these truths and more inside Hey Diddle Diddle. This is part of a series with Once Upon a Time which looks at your favorite fairy tales.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Charlotte Kane
• Release date: Sep 30, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223229872

Book preview

Roud Index

In a similar fashion to the AAT type index for fairytales, nursery rhymes are also indexed. The Roud Folk Song Index is a database containing nearly 200,00 references to approximately 25,000 songs that have been collected from the English language via oral tradition from all over the world. It was compiled by Steve Roud, a librarian in the London Borough of Croydon. The index is a combination of the Broadside Index and the Field Recording Index, which was compiled by Roud, and includes recordings from 1900 to 1975. The primary function of the Roud Folk Song Index is to be a research aid correlating versions of traditional folk song lyrics that have been documented over the years across the United Kingdom and North America. It is possible to use the index as a search tool by title, first line or subject matter (e.g., sheep), to locate the variants of the song. Detailed information of those songs is then available, including details of the original collected source, and a reference to where to find the text, and any music, in an archive.

The Roud Broadside Index is a related index that references songs that appeared on broadsides (one sided sheets) and other cheap print publications up to 1920. In addition, there are entries for music hall songs, pre-World War 2 radio performances and sheet music. The index can be searched in the same way that the Folk Song Index can be searched. The 'Roud Num' field can be used as a cross reference to the Roud Folk Song Index to establish the traditional origin of the work. The purpose of the index is to give each song a unique identifier. These numbers were assigned on a random basis and are not intended to carry any significance in themselves. However, because of the feasibility of compiling the index, the general rule that older and better-known songs tend to occupy low numbers, while songs which are obscure have higher numbers. Songs that are closely related are grouped under the same Roud number. If a trusted authority gives the name of a song but not the words, then it is assigned the Roud number 000.

Mother Goose

Old Mother Goose

when she wanted to wander

would fly through the air

on a very fine gander

Mother Goose had a house

it stood in the wood

where an owl at the door

as sentinel stood

Mother Goose is an imaginary author of a collection of French and English fairy tales and nursery rhymes. She has appeared in songs, but this has always depended on a Christmas pantomime. The term first appeared in the early eighteenth century when Charles Perrault produced his fairy tale collection: Contes de ma Mère l'Oye which was translated into English as Mother Goose’s Melody, or Sonnets for the Cradle. This was published in 1817 and contains several old nursery rhymes that have not lasted over the generations, as well as many which are still familiar today. The term nursery rhyme did not appear in print until July 1824 in an issue of Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine. Before this, they were previously known as songs, rhymes, or ditties.

There are many origins of Mother Goose and the inspiration for this character. In the twentieth century, Katherine Elwes-Thomas developed the theory that the image and name of Mother Goose was based upon the legend of King Robert II of France, wife, who was known as Berthe la Fileuse (Bertha the Spinner) or Berthe pied d’Oie (goose-footed Bertha). She was described as spinning tales that captivated children. Other scholars have pointed out that Charlemagne’s mother, Bertrada of Laon, was also known as the goose-footed queen. Some sources have even traced Mother Goose’s origins back to the Queen of Sheba.

Stories of Bertha with the strange foot (goose, swan, or other) has existed in many languages including Middle German, French, Latin, and Italian. Although there is evidence to the contrary, in the United States the origin of Mother Goose is the Bostonian wife of Isaac Goose, who was either Elizabeth Foster Goose (1665-1758) or Mary Goose (died 1690, aged just forty-two). She was reported to be the second wife of Isaac Goose (named Vergoose or Vertigoose) who had six of