There Was A Crooked Man Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mouse

According to the popular rhyme, the little old man (who was never named in the rhyme) lived in a crooked house with a cat and a mouse.

"There was a crooked man,
And he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence
Against a crooked stile;
He bought a crooked cat,
Which caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together
In a little crooked house."

Answer: Diamond

"Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" is a popular English nursery rhyme and lullaby. It was first published in 1806 for a collection of English poems titled "Rhymes for the Nursery" by Jane and Ann Taylor. In this collection it was known as "The Star". Here are some of the lines from the poem:

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.

When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, through the night."

Answer: lane

The earliest known version of the nursery rhyme "Baa Baa Black Sheep" dates back to 1731 with the first published version in 1744 in the book "Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book" by Mary Cooper. The original version was slightly different in the fact that the last line ends with "that cries in the lane" while modern versions use the line "who lives down the lane".

"Baa, baa, black sheep,
Have you any wool?
Yes, sir, yes, sir,
Three bags full;
One for the master,
And one for the dame,
And one for the little boy
Who lives down the lane."

Answer: One O'clock

Sometimes called "Hickety Dickety Dock", the rhyme "Hickory Dickory Dock" was first published in 1744 and is believed to have been what is known as a "counting-out game". These games usually required no materials to play, but instead allowed children to "count out" numbers to learn them while singing. Here is a sample of this nursery rhyme:

"Hickory, dickory, dock.
The mouse ran up the clock.
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down,
Hickory, dickory, dock."

Answer: Plum

It was originally believed that the nursery rhyme "Little Jack Horner" was about an English steward named Thomas Horner. It was thought that Thomas Horner was supposed to deliver a pie which had many "deeds" inside of it. While traveling, Horner took the deeds out and kept them for himself. It was also thought that the "plum" was not a fruit at all, but a pun on the Latin word "plumbum" which represents the element "lead". This lead was representative of the delivery region Thomas Horner was going, Mendip Hills, which had various lead mines around it.

"Little Jack Horner
Sat in the corner,
Eating his Christmas pie;
He put in his thumb,
And pulled out a plum,
And said, 'What a good boy am I!'"

Answer: B

The earliest version of the "Pat-A-Cake" rhyme is believed to come from a play called "The Campaigners" by Thomas D'Urfey in 1698. As time went on, it became a popular children's game in which two people use clapping techniques to sing the song. When being sung by a parent to their child, the "B" for "baby" can be substituted with the child's first initial and their first name:

"Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man.
Bake me a cake as fast as you can
Pat it, and prick it, and mark it with 'B'
And put in the oven for baby and me!"

Answer: Pumpkin

"Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater" dates back to at least 1797 in London, England. While there are various suggested meanings to the nursery rhyme, one possible suggestion is that it about a man named Peter who was conflicted between two different wives. One he loved dearly and treated her well, while the other he didn't love at first but she helped him learn new things (and then he began to love her in the end).

"Peter, Peter pumpkin eater,
Had a wife but couldn't keep her;
He put her in a pumpkin shell
And there he kept her very well.

Peter, Peter pumpkin eater,
Had another and didn't love her;
Peter learned to read and spell,
And then he loved her very well"

Answer: Fiddle

"Hey Diddle Diddle" was first published in 1765 but it is unknown who the songwriter was. Various interpretations into the words have been suggested, but most researchers now believe that there is no meaning and that the lines to the rhyme are essentially "nonsense". You may recognize this rhyme:

"Hey Diddle Diddle,
The cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon.
The little dog laughed,
To see such sport,
And the dish ran away with the spoon."

Answer: On a wall

"Humpty Dumpty" was first published in 1797 by an unknown songwriter. Often personified as an "egg", it is actually not known what type of character "Humpty" actually is. This characterization quite possibly came about through Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass" where he describes Humpty as an egg. Here is the rhyme as you might know it:

"Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again."

Answer: His Pipe

The question has often been asked, "who was Old King Cole"? The answer to this may never be known. At first, historians thought that he might have been a famous historical figure. One theory suggests he represented a famous Welsh king named "Coel Hen" while another theory suggests he represented a merchant named "Thomas Cole-Brook". While it is unlikely that we may ever know the true representation of "Old King Cole" it is a fun rhyme nevertheless to sing out loud:

"Old King Cole was a merry old soul,
And a merry old soul was he;
He called for his pipe, and he called for his bowl,
And he called for his fiddlers three.
Every fiddler he had a fiddle,
And a very fine fiddle had he;
Oh there's none so rare, as can compare,
With King Cole and his fiddlers three."