origins of nursery rhymes pop goes the weasel
Pop Goes the Weasel The tune appears to have begun as dance music, to which words were later added. A music sheet acquired by the British Library in 1853 describes a dance, "Pop! Goes the Weasel", as "An Old English Dance, as performed at Her Majesty's & The Nobilities Balls, with the Original Music". It had a tune very similar to that used today but only the words "Pop! Goes the Weasel".[1][2] The dance became extremely popular, and featured on stage[3] as well as in dance-halls.[4] By September of the same year the title was being used as a scornful riposte[5] and soon words were added to an already well-known tune.[6] The song is mentioned in November, 1855 in a Church of England pamphlet[7] where it is described as a universally popular song played in the streets on barrel organs, but with "senseless lyrics": the use of alternative, more wholesome words is suggested. The following verse had been written by 1856 when it was quoted in a performance at the Theatre Royal:
The Three Little Pigs The Three Little Pigs was included in The Nursery Rhymes of England (London and New York, c.1886), by James Halliwell-Phillipps.[1] The story in its arguably best-known form appeared in English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs, first published in 1890 and crediting Halliwell as his source.[2] The story begins with the title characters being sent out into the world by their mother, to "seek out their fortune". The first little pig builds a house of straw, but a wolf blows it down and devours him. The second little pig builds a house of sticks, which the wolf also blows down, and the second little pig is also devoured. Each exchange between wolf and pig features ringing proverbial phrases, namely: