Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 3.djvu/331

 ws. in. APRIL s, 1905.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

271

him for many years, and are so in the B.M. Catalogue. RALPH THOMAS.

[Replies also from MR. J. T. PAGE and MR. J. RADCLIFFE.]

"AN OLD WOMAN WENT TO MARKET"

(10 th S. ii. 502 ; iii. 10, 74). Reference is made (p. 10) to J. O. Halliwell's 'Nursery Rhymes and Tales of England.' This is, I suppose, an enlarged edition of ' The Nursery Rhymes of England, collected chiefly from Oral Tradi- tion,' edited by James Orchard Halliwell, third edition, 1844, which contains (p. 178)

A kid, a kid, my father bought

For two pieces of money : A kid, a kid.

An editorial note at the beginning says :

" The original of ' The house that Jack built ' is presumed to be a hymn in Sepher Haggadah, fol. 23, a translation of which is here given. The historical interpretation was first given by P. N. Leberecht at Leipsic, in 1731, and is printed in The Christian Reformer, vol. xvii. p. 28. The original is in the Chaldee language, and it may be men- tioned that a very fine Hebrew manuscript of the fable, with illuminations, is in the possession of George Offor, Esq., of Hackney."

As the interpretation given at the end differs considerably from that in MR. CHR. WATSON'S note (ii. 503), it would be well to give it a place in ' N. & Q.' The numbers refer to the stanzas :

"The following is the interpretation :

" 1. The kid, which was one of the pure animals, denotes the Hebrews.

"The father, by whom it was purchased, is Jehovah, who represents himself as sustaining this relation to the Hebrew nation. The two pieces of money signify Moses and Aaron, through whose mediation the Hebrews were brought out of Egypt.

" 2. The cat denotes the Assyrians, by whom the ten tribes were carried into captivity.

"3. The dog is symbolical of the Babylonians.

"4. The staff signifies the Persians.

"5. The fire indicates the Grecian empire under Alexander the Great.

"6. The water betokens the Roman, or the fourth of the great monarchies to whose dominion the Jews were subjected.

" 7. The ox is a symbol of the Saracens, who subdued Palestine and brought it under the Caliphate.

"8. The butcher that killed the ox denotes the Crusaders, by whom the Holy Land was wrested out the hands of the Saracens.

"9. The angel of death signifies the Turkish power, by which the land of Palestine was taken from the Franks, and to which it is still subject.

"10. The commencement of the tenth stanza is designed to show that God will take signal ven- geance on the Turks, immediately after whose overthrow the Jews are to be restored to their own land, and live under the government of their long- expected Messiah."

The translation, the editorial note, and the interpretation (presumably that of

Leberecht) which are given by Halliwell, are reproduced in 'Nursery Rhymes, Tales, and Jingles,' the Camden edition, compiled by Mrs. Valentine (Warne & Co.)> not dated, probably about 1890. The reproduction is exact, except that in the note "Sepher" becomes " Seper," and " Offor " becomes " Offer."

I may point out that unless there are differences in the notes contained in the various editions of Halliwell's collection he does not, as inferred in YGREC'S reply (ante, p. 11), direct attention to the likeness between "A kid, a kid, my father bought,' 3 and "An old woman went to market," but gives the former as the original of "The house that Jack built."

Immediately following "A kid, a kid," ifcc., and the interpretation comes the prose (or part prose, part verse) story, which begins :

"An old woman was sweeping her house, and she found a little crooked sixpence. ' What,' said she, 'shall 1 do with this little sixpence? I will go to market and buy a little pig.' As she was coming home, she came to a stile ; the piggy would not go over the stile."

There is no mention of the "goodman's supper," which appears in MR. WATSON'S note. The story as given by him does not go so far as it might. The old woman has to get the milk

" So away she went to the cow. But the cow said to her, ' If you will go to yonder haystack, and fetch me a handful of hay, I'll give you the milk.' So away went the old woman to the haystack, and she brought the hay to the cow."

A foot-note to the first " haystack " says, "or haymakers," proceeding thus in the stead of the rest of the paragraph : '"and fetch me a wisp of hay, I'll give you the milk." So away the old woman went, but the hay- makers said to her, ' If you will go to yonder stream, and fetch us a bucket of water, we '11 give you the hay.' So away the old woman went, but when she got to the stream she found the bucket was full of holes. So she covered the bottom with pebbles, and then filled the bucket with water, and away she went back with it to the haymakers ; and they gave her a wisp of hay."

Then would follow, I think (retaining the last eight words of the paragraph) :

" And she brought the hay to the cow. As soon as the cow had eaten the hay, she gave the old woman the milk ; and away she went with it in a saucer to the cat.

"As soon as the cat had lapped up the milk, the cat began to kill the rat ; the rat began to gnaw the rope ; the rope began to hang the butcher ; the butcher began to kill the ox ; the ox began to drink the water ; the water began to quench the fire ; the fire began to burn the stick ; the stick began to beat the dog ; the dog began to bite the