carols_stuff | Aug. 9th, 2011

Old Mother Hubbard

Old Mother Hubbard
Went to the cupboard
To fetch her poor dog a bone;
But when she came there
The cupboard was bare,
And so the poor dog had none.
She took a clean dish
To get him some tripe;
But when she came back
He was smoking a pipe.
She went to the grocer's
To buy him some fruit;
But when she came back
He was playing the flute.

She went to the baker's
To buy him some bread;
But when she came back
The poor dog was dead.

She went to the undertaker's
To buy him a coffin;
But when she came back
The poor dog was laughing.

She went to the hatter's
To buy him a hat;
But when she came back
He was feeding the cat.

The dame made a curtsey,
The dog made a bow;
The dame said, "Your servant."
The dog said, "Bow wow!"

History:

This nursery school poem was in print in 1805 as The Comic Adventures of Old Mother Hubbard and Her Dog. It was written by Sarah Catherine Martin (1768-1826), but based on previous material of unidentified source (the person's name is attested as of 1591). The initial 2 stanzas are probable older than the others, since they use a dissimilar meter. The manuscript was straight away well-liked, perhaps in fraction since it was useful for following comments (a practice which continues to this day).

Old Mother Hubbard was the residence keeper at Kitley House, the ancestor house of the Bastard's of Yealmpton, a little township in South Hams, Devon, Nr Plymouth. "Old Mother Hubbard" is a nursery school rhyme. Tentative claims have been made that this had to do through Thomas Cardinal Wolsey refusing Henry VIII's separation from Queen Catherine of Aragon, or even that it was referring to a big trebuchet, but those have been uncertain.