Simple Simon (nursery Rhyme) on:
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"Simple Simon" is an
The rhyme is as follows;
:Simple Simon met a pieman,
:Going to the fair;
:Says Simple Simon to the pieman,
:”Let me taste your ware.”
:Said the pieman unto Simon,
:Show me first your penny;
:Says Simple Simon to the pieman,
:”Indeed I have not any.”
:Simple Simon went a-fishing,
:For to catch a whale;
:All the water he had got,
:Was in his mother's pail.
:Simple Simon went to look
:If plums grew on a thistle;
:He pricked his fingers very much,
:Which made poor Simon whistle.I. Opie and P. Opie, ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'' (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), pp. 333-4.
:He went for water in a sieve
:But soon it all fell through
:And now poor Simple Simon
:Bids you all adieu!
A page containing the full text of the rhyme
{{Authority control Year of song unknown Chapbooks English nursery rhymes English folk songs English children's songs Traditional children's songs Songs about fictional male characters
English language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to t ...
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 ...
. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19777.
Lyrics
The rhyme is as follows;
:Simple Simon met a pieman,
:Going to the fair;
:Says Simple Simon to the pieman,
:”Let me taste your ware.”
:Said the pieman unto Simon,
:Show me first your penny;
:Says Simple Simon to the pieman,
:”Indeed I have not any.”
:Simple Simon went a-fishing,
:For to catch a whale;
:All the water he had got,
:Was in his mother's pail.
:Simple Simon went to look
:If plums grew on a thistle;
:He pricked his fingers very much,
:Which made poor Simon whistle.I. Opie and P. Opie, ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'' (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), pp. 333-4.
:He went for water in a sieve
:But soon it all fell through
:And now poor Simple Simon
:Bids you all adieu!
Origins
The verses used today are the first of a longerchapbook
A chapbook is a small publication of up to about 40 pages, sometimes bound with a saddle stitch.
In early modern Europe a chapbook was a type of printed street literature. Produced cheaply, chapbooks were commonly small, paper-covered bookl ...
history first published in 1764. The character of Simple Simon may have been in circulation much longer, possibly appearing in an Elizabethan chapbook and in a ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or '' ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...
, ''Simple Simon's Misfortunes and his Wife Margery's Cruelty'', from about 1685. Another possible inspiration was Simon Edy Simon Edy, known as Old Simon, (1709-18 May 1783) was a London beggar who may have served as an inspiration for a popular nursery rhyme. He lived in a derelict "Rats' Castle" in the rookery of Dyott Street. He was born in Woodford in Northamptonshir ...
, a beggar in the St Giles area in the 18th century.
Notes
External links
A page containing the full text of the rhyme
{{Authority control Year of song unknown Chapbooks English nursery rhymes English folk songs English children's songs Traditional children's songs Songs about fictional male characters