Simple Simon (nursery rhyme) on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
"Simple Simon" is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19777.
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
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 longer chapbook 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, ''Simple Simon's Misfortunes and his Wife Margery's Cruelty'', from about 1685. Another possible inspiration was Simon Edy, 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