Hey Diddle DiddleThe Cat and the Fiddle

Hey Diddle DiddleThe Cat and the Fiddle a great nursery rhyme for children of all ages. This original song is easy for kids to learn and sing. It is repeated so children can get used to singing the song and it is easy to learn and read.

The rhyme may date back to at least the sixteenth century. There is a reference in Thomas Preston's play A lamentable tragedy mixed ful of pleasant mirth, conteyning the life of Cambises King of Percia, printed in 1569 that may refer to the rhyme:

They be at hand Sir with stick and fidle;
They can play a new dance called hey-didle-didle.[2]

Another possible reference is in Alexander Montgomerie's The Cherry and the Slae from 1597:

But since you think't an easy thing

To mount above the moon,
Of your own fiddle take a spring
And dance when you have done.[3]

The name "Cat and the Fiddle" was a common name for inns, including one known to have been at Old Chaunge, London by 1587.

The earliest recorded version of the poem in close to the modern form was printed in London in Mother Goose's Melody around 1765, with the lyrics:

Hey diddle diddle,

The Cat and the Fiddle,
The Cow jump'd over the Moon,
The little dog laugh'd to see such Craft,
And the Dish ran away with the Spoon.

Please check out the Hansel and Gretel Cartoon

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