Four and twenty Naughty Boys

Name: Four and twenty Naughty Boys

Classification: supporting characters group

Publisher(s): Mary Cooper

First Appearance: Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book Voll. II (1744): "Sing a Song of Sixpence"

Creators: John Newbery

Number of Appearances: 1

Nation: England, United Kingdom

Race: white

Note: precursor to four and twenty blackbirds

The earliest known printed version of the nursery rhyme "Sing a Song of Sixpence" appeared in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book (1744). This version had only once verse and did NOT include the "four and twenty blackbirds" known in the rhyme today. Instead, it featured "four and twenty naughty boys."

This version from 1744 reads as follows:

Sing a Song of Sixpence,
A bag full of Rye,
Four and twenty Naughty Boys,
Baked in a Pye.

This character is in the following 2 stories which have been indexed by this website:

Nancy Cook's Pretty Song Book for all Little and Misses and Masters (1780): "Sing a Song of Sixpence" (character based on)

Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book Voll. II (1744): "Sing a Song of Sixpence"

Suggested links for further research about this character:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sing_a_Song_of_Sixpence