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"There was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe" is a popular English language
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 ...
, with 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 Londo ...
number of 19132. Debates over its meaning and origin have largely centered on attempts to match the old woman with historical female figures who have had large families, although King George II (1683–1760) has also been proposed as the rhyme's subject.


Lyrics

The most common version of the rhyme is: The earliest printed version in Joseph Ritson's ''Gammer Gurton's Garland'' in 1794 has the coarser last line: Many other variations were printed in the 18th and 19th centuries. Marjorie Ainsworth Decker published a Christian version of the rhyme in her ''The Christian Mother Goose Book'' published in 1978:


Origins and meaning

Iona Iona (; gd, Ì Chaluim Chille (IPA: �iːˈxaɫ̪ɯimˈçiʎə, sometimes simply ''Ì''; sco, Iona) is a small island in the Inner Hebrides, off the Ross of Mull on the western coast of Scotland. It is mainly known for Iona Abbey, though ther ...
and Peter Opie pointed to the version published in ''Infant Institutes'' in 1797, which finished with the lines: The term "a-loffeing", they believe, was Shakespearean, suggesting that the rhyme is considerably older than the first printed versions. They then speculated that if this were true, it might have a folklore meaning and pointed to the connection between shoes and fertility, perhaps exemplified by casting a shoe after a bride as she leaves for her honeymoon, or tying shoes to the departing couple's car. Archaeologist Ralph Merifield has pointed out that in
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancas ...
it was the custom for females who wished to conceive to try on the shoes of a woman who had just given birth. Debates over the meaning of the rhyme have largely revolved around matching the old woman with historical figures, as Peter Opie observed "for little reason other than the size of their families". Candidates include Queen
Caroline Caroline may refer to: People *Caroline (given name), a feminine given name * J. C. Caroline (born 1933), American college and National Football League player * Jordan Caroline (born 1996), American (men's) basketball player Places Antarctica * ...
, the wife of King George II (1683–1760), who had eight children, and Elizabeth Vergoose of Boston, who had six children of her own and ten stepchildren. Some evidence suggests the rhyme refers to the wife of
Feodor Vassilyev Feodor Vassilyev (russian: Фёдор Васильев, older spelling: Ѳеодоръ Васильевъ) (c. 1707 1782) was a peasant from Shuya, Russia. His first wife is said to have lived to be 76, and between 1725 and 1765, have had 69 c ...
of Shuya, Russia, who reportedly birthed 69 children during her lifetime (1707–c.1782). Albert Jack has proposed a political origin for the rhyme. George II was nicknamed the "old woman", because it was widely believed that Queen Caroline was the real
power behind the throne The phrase "power behind the throne" refers to a person or group that informally exercises the real power of a high-ranking office, such as a head of state. In politics, it most commonly refers to a relative, aide, or nominal subordinate of a poli ...
. According to this explanation, the children are the
Members of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MPs) that George was unable to control, the
whip A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally ...
refers to the political office of that name – the MP whose role is to ensure that members of his party vote according to the party line – and the bed is the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
, which MPs were required to attend daily. The phrase "gave them some broth without any bread" may refer to George's parsimony in the wake of the
South Sea Bubble South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...
of 1721, and his attempts to restore his own and the country's finances.


Notes


References


Sources

* * *{{citation , last1=Opie , first1=I. , last2=Opie , first2=P. , title=The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes , publisher=Oxford University Press , year=1997 , edition=2nd , isbn=978-0-19-860088-6 English folklore English nursery rhymes English folk songs English children's songs Traditional children's songs Songwriter unknown 1794 songs