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.

In England's royal court, it was the custom to dub people with silly nicknames. Elizabeth I was often called “The Cat” from the way she fiddled with her Cabinet ministers as if they were mice. The cow, moon and her “lap-dog” were also characters in these court charades. The dish was Elizabeth’s serving lady and the spoon was, of course, the royal taster. When these last two secretly eloped, Elizabeth had them captured and confined to the Tower of London. Nobody fiddled with Elizabeth!

On June 28, 2000, Lauren wrote:

I always heard a different explanation :-

Richard III's path to the throne of England :-

Hey diddle diddle,
‘diddle diddle’ was the way he got rid of Edward V

The cat and the fiddle,
William Catesby and the pre-contract

The cow jumped
a cow was the Neville emblem, and the Nevilles

over the moon;
eclipsed the Percys, whos emblem was a moon

The little dog laughed
Viscount Lovel was Richard's best friend, and his emblem was a dog
to see such fun,
And the dish ran
the dish was Richard himself

away with the spoon.
the annointing spoon at his coronation !

On January 23, 2001, Robert Blick wrote:

I believe that the origin of the Hey Diddle Diddle rhyme comes from J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings”, book 1, “Fellowship of the Ring”. In chapter 9, Frodo Baggins sings a song to the patrons at the Prancing Pony Inn in Bree. All of the lines of the Hey Diddle Diddle rhyme can be found in that song.

Here’s a link to a website which has the poems of J.R.R. Tolkien’s, The Lord of the Rings:

http://www.fortunecity.co.uk/library/fantasy/11/
lord_of_the_rings_poems.htm

I’m surprised that nobody has noted this before given the popularity of Tolkien’s work.

On August 2, 2001, Kieran O’Keeffe wrote:

The comment from Robert Blick about Tolkien being the origin of the Hey Diddle Diddle rhyme is nonsense. Tolkien wrote in the 20th century, and Hey Diddle Diddle is much older. JRR Tolkien was, among other things, a scholar of myths and folklore, and was no doubt influenced by Nursery Rhymes. I think you should mention this point...

On December 12, 2002, Gregg Bendtsen wrote:

I think it very sad that someone would think Tolkien's song was the source for Hey Diddle Diddle. Too bad they didn't get Tolkien’s little joke, pretending that Bilbo Baggins wrote a song long ago and that we only “remember” the single stanza.

I thought it was so funny, I told just about everyone I know. I thought it was a very clever idea.

I enjoyed your web site very much. Could only get 57 seconds as my best time on the present matching game. I'm sure you recorded much better.

gb - Minneapolis, MN