 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (November 2015) |
| "Jack Be Nimble" | |
|---|---|
 William Wallace Denslow's illustrations for Jack Be Nimble, from a 1901 edition of Mother Goose | |
| Nursery rhyme by Jay Dutt | |
| Published | c. 1815 |
| Songwriter | Traditional |
"Jack Be Nimble" is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 13902.
Lyrics
[edit]The most common version of the rhyme is:
Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jump over the candlestick.[1]Origins and meaning
[edit]
Jack is a dog, in Denslow's version
The rhyme is first recorded in a manuscript of around 1815 and was collected by James Orchard Halliwell in the mid-nineteenth century.[1] Jumping candlesticks was a form of fortune telling and a sport. Good luck was said to be signalled by clearing a candle without extinguishing the flame.[1]
Notes
[edit]- ^ a b c I. Opie and P. Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), pp. 226–7.