This site is to support the book
by the same name.
The Bumper Book of
Illustrated Nursery Rhymes - Book 1
by Mol Smith
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THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN |
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"There was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe" is a popular English language nursery rhyme, with a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19132. Debates over its meaning and origin have largely centered on attempts to match the old woman with historical female figures who have had large families, although King George II (1683–1760) has also been proposed as the rhyme's subject.
Debates over the meaning of the rhyme have largely revolved around matching the old woman with historical figures, as Peter Opie observed "for little reason other than the size of their families". Candidates include Queen Caroline, the wife of King George II (1683–1760), who had eight children, and Elizabeth Vergoose of Boston, who had six children of her own and ten stepchildren. Some evidence suggests the rhyme refers to the wife of Feodor Vassilyev of Shuya, Russia, who reportedly birthed 69 children during her lifetime (1707–c.1782).[citation needed]
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