The Newest Christmas Box
Title: “Diddle, Diddle, Dumpling, My Son John”
Medium: nursery rhyme
Publication date: 1797
Publisher: unknownRoud Folk Song Index Number: 19709
3 characters in this story:
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Religious Affiliation |
Team(s) [Notes] |
Pub. | # app. |
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[went to bed with his trousers on] |  |
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[narrates rhyme "Diddle, Diddle, Dumpling, My Son John"] | |
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[narrates rhyme "Diddle, Diddle, Dumpling, My Son John"] | |
2 |
The earliest known printed version of the traditional English nursery rhyme "Diddle, Diddle, Dumpling, My Son John" was published in The Newest Christmas Box, which was published in London around 1797. The rhyme may be derived from "Diddle, diddle, diddle Dumpling," which was a traditional street cry of hot dumpling sellers.
The rhyme reads:
Went to bed with his trousers on;
One shoe off, and one shoe on,
Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John.
