HEY DIDDLE DIDDLE NURSERY RHYMES
Origins 🕰️
- First printed around 1765 in Mother Goose’s Melody, though likely sung orally for centuries before.
- Imagery of a cat playing a fiddle appears in medieval manuscripts, and the phrase “hey diddle diddle” shows up in 16th‑century plays.
- One Yorkshire legend links it to a dispute involving Prior William Moone of Bolton Priory, with each line symbolising real people or events.
Meaning 📜
- Often seen as nonsense verse meant to amuse children with absurd imagery — animals and objects behaving in impossible ways.
- Some theories suggest hidden references to constellations, historical events, or satire, but none are universally accepted.
Fun Facts 🌟
- The rhyme gave rise to the English idiom “over the moon”, meaning extremely happy.
- “The Cat and the Fiddle” was a common name for inns in 16th‑century England.
- Early versions had a fork running away with the spoon instead of a dish.
Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle
The cow jumped over the moon
The little dog laughed to see such fun
And the dish ran away with the spoon!
Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle
The cow jumped over the moon
The little dog laughed to see such fun
And the dish ran away with the spoon!
