Illustration of Old Mother Hubbard, from a 1927 anthology of childrens' stories

"Old Mother Hubbard" is a nursery rhyme. Speculative claims have been made that this had to do with Thomas Cardinal Wolsey refusing Henry VIII's divorce from Queen Catherine of Aragon, or even that it was referring to a large trebuchet, but those have been disputed. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 426 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (618 × 869 pixel, file size: 122 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Old Mother Hubbard From Childhoods Favorites and Fairy Stories, by Various Project Gutenberg etext 19993 http://www. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 426 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (618 × 869 pixel, file size: 122 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Old Mother Hubbard From Childhoods Favorites and Fairy Stories, by Various Project Gutenberg etext 19993 http://www. ... A nursery rhyme is a traditional song or poem taught to young children, originally in the nursery. ... Thomas Cardinal Wolsey, (c. ... Henry VIII (28 June 1491 - 28 January 1547) was King of England and Lord of Ireland, later King of Ireland, from 22 April 1509 until his death. ... Katherine of Aragon (Alcalá de Henares, 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536), Castilian Infanta Catalina de Aragón y Castilla, also known popularly after her time as Catherine of Aragon, was the first wife and Queen Consort of Henry VIII of England. ... Trebuchet at Château des Baux, France. ...

This nursery rhyme was printed 1805 as The Comic Adventures of Old Mother Hubbard and Her Dog. It was written by Sarah Catherine Martin (1768-1826), but based on earlier material of unknown origin (the name is attested from 1591). It is claimed that the housekeeper at Kitley House in Yealmpton, where Sarah Martin stayed in 1804, was also a Mrs Hubbard. ^[1] The first 2 stanzas are likely older than the others, because they use a different meter. The book was immediately popular, possibly in part because it was handy for political commentary (a practice that continues to this day). Yealmpton is a village in the English county of Devon. ... Meter (British English spelling: metre) describes the linguistic sound patterns of a verse. ...

Rhyme

Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard,

To fetch her poor dog a bone.

But when she got there, her cupboard was bare,

so then the poor dog had none.

She went to the baker's to buy him some bread;

When she got back, the poor dog was dead.

She went to the joiner's to buy him a coffin;

When she got back, the dog was a-laughing.

She took a clean dish to get him some tripe;

When she came back, he was smoking a pipe.

She went to the out-house to get him some beer;

When she came back, the dog sat in a chair.

She went to the fruiter's to buy him some fruit;

When she came back, he was playing the flute.

She went to the tailor's to buy him a coat;

When she came back, he was riding a goat.

She went to the hatter's to buy him a hat;

When she came back, he was feeding the cat.

She went to the barber's to buy him a wig;

When she came back, he was dancing a jig.

She went to the cobbler's to buy him some shoes;

When she came back, he was reading the news.

She went to the seamstress to buy him some linen;

When she came back, the dog was a-spinning.

She went to the hosier's to buy him some hose;

When she came back, he was dressed in his clothes.

The dame made a curtsy, the dog made a bow;

The dame said, "Your servant," the dog said, "Bow-wow."

Variations

This is an old joke:

Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard,

To get her poor daughter a dress.

When she got there, her cupboard was bare,

And so was her daughter, I guess.

Another version:

Old Mother Hubbard sat in her cubbard,

Eating Jack's Christmas pie;

He opened the door

Gave a furious roar,

And blackened Mother Hubbard's right eye.

An off-color variation:

Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard,

To get her old dog a bone.

She bent over, Rover took over!

She got a bone of her own.

On episode 6 of "ego trip's The (White) Rapper Show" on VH1, $hamrock created a "thugged out" version of Old Mother Hubbard: ego trips The (White) Rapper Show is an American reality television series on the VH1 cable network. ...

See old mother hubbard

Had went to her cupboard

But she didn't have shit to eat

Her dog is on the couch

Doggin her ass out

He said bitch i need a bone and some meat

So she came up with a scheme, how to get that cream

She was fittin to work the strip

Now when she was walking home she bought a bone (?and some ***?)

Got back after eleven

Threw the bone in his lap

Hit him with the mack

And said I hope all dogs go to heaven

(pow)

References

1. ^ Welcome to Kitley Heritage - Introductory Notes - web page accessed 2006-09-30