I heard these lines this week on the radio. A quick search revealed that they come from the nursery rhyme "Goosey Goosey Gander":
Goosey Goosey Gander where shall I wander,
Upstairs, downstairs and in my lady's chamber.
There I met an old man who wouldn't say his prayers,
I took him by the left leg and threw him down the stairs.
Here's
one explanation for this curious verse:
"I read that it referred to the post Civil War period (middle 17th century) and Cromwell's soldiers who marched in "goose-step", which gives the title and first line. Also, the version of the rhyme I heard had the third line as, "There I met an old man a-saying of his prayers". This referred to (as you mention) a Catholic, possibly a Priest, praying and the line: "I took him by the left leg and threw him down the stairs" alluded to the nickname "left-footer", that a Catholic is sometimes called in Britain. The overall meaning was that the Roundhead soldiers were searching out Catholics, particularly Priests, hiding in the houses of friends, and when found they were ill-treated".
I had an obsession with Victorian (and older) nursery rhymes as a child and I'd always wondered about that. Makes sense.
ReplyDelete...though rereading it, I notice your version is slightly different from the one I know. The "where" in the first line was "whither" and there was an "and" in the second.
ReplyDelete"There I met an old man who wouldn't say his prayers"
ReplyDeleteI've always understood this to refer to the test the roundheads would use to find Catholic priests; they would ask them to say the Lords Prayer. Catholic priests would either say it in Latin or refuse to say it, whereas Protestants would say it in English.