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Here Be Dragons co-curated by Cressida Cowell and Toothless - opens 13 July. Admission included with ticket to the Galleries

1001 Stories Collection

Sing a Song of Sixpence

1001 Sing A Song Of Sixpence
Added on 08th July 2020

Nursery Rhyme Origins uncertain
First Published 1744

Small Worlds Funny
1001

A well-known nonsense rhyme with blackbirds baked into a pie and noses pecked off.

Story

A nonsense rhyme about a king, a queen, a maid servant and twenty four blackbirds.

Why we chose it

Sing a Song of Sixpence was part of our original audio stories collection and featured in the nursery rhyme room in our Time for Bed exhibition. Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie can still be seen on the nursery rhyme mural in Small Worlds.

Where it came from

There is a suggestion that this rhyme may have its origin in the life of Henry VIII. The theory suggests that the queen is Katherine of Aragon, the maid is Anne Boleyn and the blackbirds represent the church.

There are 16th Italian century recipes in which live birds would be placed in pie and would fly out when the pie was opened.

Where it went next

It was first published in Tommy Thumb’s Song book in 1744, the earliest known collection of nursery rhymes.

Associated stories

Sing a Song of Sixpence is referenced in three Agatha Christie stories: A Pocket Full of Rye, Sing a Song of Sixpence and Four and Twenty Blackbirds.

Added on 08th July 2020

Nursery Rhyme Origins uncertain
First Published 1744

Small Worlds Funny
1001