| Peter the Pumpkin-Eater | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Real Name |
Peter |
|
First Appearance |
“Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater” (nursery rhyme) (1700s) |
|
Original Publisher |
Unknown |
|
Created by |
Unknown |
Origin[]
"Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater" is an English language nursery rhyme.
Common modern versions include:
- 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
Public Domain Comic Book Appearances[]
- Four Color #90,103,185
Note[]
Peter’s first marriage presumably ended before he married his second wife, but the reason for the termination is not documented in the nursery rhyme. However, “Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater” has the same Roud Folk Song Index designation, and is thus considered a variation of, “Eeper Weeper,” a rhyme in which Eeper Weeper kills his second wife by shoving her up the chimney and (in another version, with the name Peter) kills his first wife by putting her in the wall and letting the mice eat her. This calls into question how exactly Peter put and then kept his wife in that pumpkin shell.