This is one of those familiar nursery rhymes most of us take for granted. But, have you ever thought about the words?
Three blind mice, three blind mice,
See how they run, see how they run,
They all ran after the farmer's wife,
Who cut off their tails with a carving knife,
Did you ever see such a thing in your life,
As three blind mice?
Three small mice
pined for some fun
They made up their minds to set out to roam;
Said they, "'Tis dull to remain at home,"
And all the luggage they took was a comb,
These three small mice.
Three bold mice,
Came to an inn.
“Good evening, Host, can you give us a bed”,
But the host he grinned and he shook his head.
So they all slept out in a field instead,
These three bold mice.
Three cold mice,
Woke up next morn.
They each had a cold and a swollen face,
Through sleeping all night in an open space;
So they rose quite early and left the place,
These three cold mice.
Three hungry mice,
Searched for some food.
But all they found was a walnut shell,
That lay by the side of a dried up well;
Who has eaten the nut they could not tell,
Three hungry mice.
Three starved mice,
Came to a farm.
The farmer was eating some bread and cheese;
So they all went down on their hands and knees,
And squeaked, “pray, give us a morsel please,”
These three starved mice.
Three glad mice,
Ate all they could.
They felt so happy they danced with glee;
But the farmer’s wife came in to see,
What might this merry-making be
Of three glad mice.
Three poor mice,
Soon changed their tone.
The farmer’s wife said, “What are you at,
And why were you capering round like that?
Just wait a minute: I’ll fetch the cat”
Oh dear! Poor mice.
Three sad mice,
What could they do?
The bramble hedge was most unkind:
It scratched their eyes and made them blind,
And soon each mouse went out of his mind,
These three sad mice.
Three blind mice,
See how they run.
They all ran after the farmer’s wife,
Who cut off their tails with the carving knife.
Who cut off their tails with the carving knife.
Did you ever see such a sight in your life
Three sick mice,
Gave way to tears
They could not see and they had no end;
They sought a chemist and found a friend
He gave them some “Never too late to mend”
These three sick mice.
Three wise mice,
Rubbed, rubbed away
And soon their tails began to grow,
And their eyes recovered their sight, you know;
They looked in the glass and it told them so.
These three wise mice.
Three proud mice,
Soon settled down.
The name of their house I cannot tell,
But they've learnt a trade and are doing well.
If you call upon them, ring the bell
Three times twice.
This gruesome tale is supposedly based on the
life of Queen Mary 1, the daughter of King Henry VIII and the wife of Philip II
of Spain . Mary was known for her persecution of Protestants
and her attempt to reinstate Catholicism in England . When three Protestant
bishops were convicted of plotting against Mary, she had them burnt at the
stake. However, it was mistakenly believed that she had them blinded and
dismembered, as is inferred in the rhyme.
The Complete Version of Ye three Blind Mice is now sold, thank you for your interest.
I was looking around to see if I could find any ‘mouse
related’ items to use in my pictures. I only came up with an old T-Towel and a
little ceramic mouse eating strawberries. I thought it worked quite well until
I noticed the fox on the left of the picture appears to be stalking the mouse. Maybe
it’s not the perfect picture after all. Just think what might have become of
the three blind mice had they encountered a fox!
I used to sing the three blind mice to my son without giving
the words a thought. Is it something you
sing to your children or grandchildren?