Ding Dong Bell
Ding Dong Bell
Original Text
Mother Goose's Melody: A facsimile reproduction of the earliest known edition, ed. W. F. Prideaux (London: A. H. Bullein, 1904): 25. DeLury Collection F, Fisher Rare Book Library. The original is Mother Goose's Melody: or, Sonnets for the Cradle (London: Francis Power, 1791).
2The cat is in the well.
3Who put her in?
4Little Johnny Green.
5What a naughty boy was that,
6To drown poor Pussy cat.
7Who never did any harm,
8And kill'd the mice in his father's barn.
Notes
1] "Nursery rhyme reformers have recently taken particular objection to `Ding, dong, bell', claiming that children have been known to throw cats into ponds through the direct influence of this rhyme." The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, ed. Iona and Peter Opie (1951; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966), no. 134, p. 149. Perhaps the standard version today, rendered by the Opies as follows, mitigates the crime by adding a rescuer:
Ding, dong, bell,Back to Line
Pussy's in the well.
Who put her in?
Little Johnny Green.
Who pulled her out?
Little Tommy Stout.
What a naughty boy was that,
To try to drown poor pussy cat,
Who never did him any harm,
And killed the mice in his father's barn.
Publication Start Year
1580
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 1998.
Form