he, "All my stock
You shall presently see;
For I honor the cats
Of Dame Wiggins of Lee."

He sent his maid out
For some muffins and crumpets;
And when he turn'd round
They were blowing of trumpets.
Said he, "I suppose
She's as deaf as can be,
Or this ne'er could be borne
By Dame Wiggins of Lee."

To show them his poultry,
He turn'd them all loose,
When each nimbly leap'd
On the back of a goose,
Which frighten'd them so
That they ran to the sea,
And half-drown'd the poor cats
Of Dame Wiggins of Lee.

For the care of his lamb,
And their comical pranks,
He gave them a ham
And abundance of thanks.
"I wish you good-day,
My fine fellows," said he;
"My compliments, pray,
To Dame Wiggins of Lee."

You see them arrived
At their Dame's welcome door;
They show her their presents,
And all their good store.
"Now come in to supper,
And sit down with me;
All welcome once more,"
Cried Dame Wiggins of Lee.

144

This is the perfect pattern of all the
accumulative stories, perhaps the best known
and most loved of children among all nursery
jingles. Halliwell thought it descended from
the mystical Hebrew hymn, "A kid, a kid," found
in the Talmud. Most commentators since have
followed his example in calling attention to
the parallel, though scholars have insisted
that the hymn referred to is a late
interpolation. The hymn opens:

"A kid, a kid, my father bought,
For two pieces of money:
A kid, a kid.

"Then came the cat, and ate the kid,
That my father bought," etc.

Then came the dog and bit the cat, then the
staff and beat the dog, then the fire and
burned the staff, then water and quenched the
fire, then the ox and drank the water, then the
butcher and slew the ox, then the angel of
death and killed the butcher, and the hymn
concludes:

"Then came the Holy One, blessed be He!
And killed the angel of death,
That killed the butcher,
That slew the ox,
That drank the water,
That quenched the fir