| Old King Cole | |
|---|---|
 | |
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Real Name |
Cole |
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First Appearance |
“Old King Cole” (nursery rhyme) (1700s) |
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Original Publisher |
British Nursery Rhyme |
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Created by |
Unknown |
Origin[]
Old King Cole is a British nursery rhyme most likely deriving from ancient Wales. The historical identity of King Cole has been much debated and several candidates have been advanced as possibilities.
The most common modern version of the rhyme is:
- 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.
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
- Old King Cole
- The Nursery Rhymes of England, Collected Principally from Oral Tradition (1842)
- Songs from Mother Goose for Voice and Piano (music) by Sidney Homer (1919)
- The Reading Club and Handy Speaker: Being Serious, Humorous, Pathetic, Patriotic, and Dramatic Selections in Prose and Poetry, for Readings and Recitations (1881)
- Old King Cole: An Operetta Given in the Aid of the Cambridge Division of the Massachusetts Indian Association… by James B. Greenough and F. D. Allen (1889)
- Mother Goose in Prose by L. Frank Baum (1897)
- King Cole: A Burlesque Operetta in Three Acts (written) by H. N. Cunningham and (music by) M. L. Cooley (1900)
- Runaway Robinson by Charles M. Snyder (1901)
- Tito’s Home‐made Picture‐Book by George Frederick Welsford (1904)
- A Message to Mother Goose by Ellen Manly (1904)
- Mrs. Goose: Her Book by Maurice Switzer (1906)
- A Dream of Mother Goose and Other Entertainments by G. B. Bartlett (1908)
- Old King Cole and Four Other Stories… by John Martin (pseudonym of Morgan Shepard) (1911)
- The Marriage of Jack and Jill: A Mother Goose Entertainment in Two Scenes by Lilian Clisby Bridgham (1913)
- The Modern Mother Goose: A Play in Three Acts by Helen Hamilton (1916)
- The Living Age (1921)
- The Ladies’ Home Journal (1921)
- The Ladies’ Home Journal (1922)
Public Domain Comic Appearances[]
- Koko and Kola #2
- Fawcett's Funny Animals #13
- Four Color #41, 59, 68, 90 ,103, 126
- Kid Koko #2
Public Domain Comics Inspired by Old King Cole[]
- Plastic Man #6
Public Domain Film Appearances[]
- Bold King Cole (1936)