"Little Miss Muffet" is an English

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. From t ...

of uncertain origin, first recorded in 1805. It has a

Roud Folk Song Index The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud (born 1949), a former librarian in the London ...

number of 20605.

Wording

The rhyme first appeared in print in ''Songs for the Nursery'' (1805), and there have been many variants since. ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'' gives the following:

:Little Miss Muffet :Sat on a
tuffet A tuffet is a small grassy mound or clump of grass; or alternatively a low seat. The word is now known overwhelmingly from the nursery rhyme " Little Miss Muffet" which was first printed in 1805. It was originally a variant of the word " tuft" ...
, :Eating her curds and whey; :There came a big spider, :Who sat down beside her :And frightened Miss Muffet away.

Older versions sometimes use "of" rather than "her" in line 3, and refer to a "little spider" as in this example dating between 1837 and 1845:

:Little Miss Muffet :She sat on a tuffet, :Eating of curds and whey; :There came a little spider, :Who sat down beside her, :And frighten'd Miss Muffet away.

There are several early-published versions with significant variations including "Little Mary Ester sat upon a tester" (1812) and "Little Miss Mopsey, Sat in the shopsey" (1842). Other collected variants have included "Little Miss Muffet, sat on a toffet" (1830s?) and "Little Miss Muffet, sat on a buffet" (1840s?). In a later United States example, "whey" was replaced with "pie".

"Tuffet"

Although the word "tuffet" is now sometimes used to mean a type of low seat, the word in the rhyme probably refers to a grassy hillock, small knoll or mound (a variant spelling of an obsolete and rare meaning of "tuft"). See entries for "Tuffet 2." and "Tuft 3b." The

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...

calls the "hassock or footstool" meaning "doubtful", and "perhaps due to misunderstanding of the nursery rhyme".

Origins

The origins of the rhyme are unclear. Although no record has been found before 1805,

Iona and Peter Opie Iona Margaret Balfour Opie, (13 October 1923 – 23 October 2017) and Peter Mason Opie (25 November 1918 – 5 February 1982) were an English married team of folklorists who applied modern techniques to understanding children's literature and ...

argue that it is likely to be considerably older given its similarity to other rhymes such as "Little Polly Flinders", " Little Poll Parrot", "Little Tommy Tacket", "Little General Monk" and "

Little Jack Horner "Little Jack Horner" is a popular English nursery rhyme with the Roud Folk Song Index number 13027. First mentioned in the 18th century, it was early associated with acts of opportunism, particularly in politics. Moralists also rewrote and expa ...

" (the last known to have been current at least as early as 1720). It is possible that all of these rhymes, and others, are parodies of whichever unknown rhyme came first. It is sometimes claimed – without evidence – that the original Miss Muffet was Patience, daughter of Dr

Thomas Muffet Thomas Muffet (also Moufet, Mouffet, or Moffet) (1553 – 5 June 1604) was an English naturalist and physician. He is best known his study of insects and arthropods in regard to medicine (particularly spiders), his support of the Paracelsian sy ...

(d.1604), an English physician and

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

,For example: but the Opies are sceptical given the two-hundred year gap between his death and the rhyme's appearance. It has also been claimed to refer to

Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scot ...

(1543–1587), frightened by the religious reformer

John Knox John Knox ( gd, Iain Cnocc) (born – 24 November 1572) was a Scottish minister, Reformed theologian, and writer who was a leader of the country's Reformation. He was the founder of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Born in Giffordgat ...

(1510–1572).

Cultural depictions

Several novels and films, including the

Alex Cross ''Alex Cross'' is a crime, mystery, and thriller novel series written by James Patterson. The series focuses on Metropolitan Police Department detective and father Alex Cross as he faces threats to his family and the city of Washington, D.C. ...

novel '' Along Came a Spider'' (1993) and its eponymous 2001 film adaptation, take their titles from the poem's crucial line. File:Little Miss Muffet - Sir John Everett Millais.png, by

John Everett Millais Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, ( , ; 8 June 1829 – 13 August 1896) was an English painter and illustrator who was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was a child prodigy who, aged eleven, became the youngest ...

File:Kate Greenaway Little Miss Muffet.jpg, by

Kate Greenaway Catherine Greenaway (17 March 18466 November 1901) was an English Victorian artist and writer, known for her children's book illustrations. She received her education in graphic design and art between 1858 and 1871 from the Finsbury School of ...

File:Arthur Rackham Little Miss Muffet.jpg, by

Arthur Rackham Arthur Rackham (19 September 1867 – 6 September 1939) was an English book illustrator. He is recognised as one of the leading figures during the Golden Age of British book illustration. His work is noted for its robust pen and ink drawings, ...

File:Little Miss Muffet, Mother Goose, Richardson 1915.jpg, by

Frederick Richardson Frederick Richardson (1862 – 15 January 1937) was an American illustrator of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, best remembered for his illustrations of works by L. Frank Baum. Life and career A native Chicagoan, Richardso ...

References

External links