Quotations of "Mother Goose" Phrases in Novels

Some of the members belonging to MOTHER GOOSE SOCIETY of JAPAN have contributed their findings of Mother Goose quotations to our bimonthly newslettter. The following are some of the examples:

Mr.Fujino's postings:

(1) Old Mother Hubbard
　 "Well," Geof said, stabbing his salad, "Derek kept his promise to you and called to tell me where he was living. So I went over there personally, to talk to him." He forked in a mouthful of the cucumbers and red onions that I'd tossed in Italian dressing."

"And?" I coaxed.

"Um." He pointed to his mouth. After he had swallowed, he said, "You're not going to like this. When we got there, the cupboard was bare."

(Dead Crazy by Nancy Pickard)

(2) Tweedledum and Tweedledee
Barnwell Quiffen was a perfect Tweedledee, ovoid in shape and about to have a battle. He glared around the beautifully proportioned, spacious room, sniffed at Anora's exclamations over Saraha's excellent redecorating job, and snapped, "Where's the desk? I told you this would be a waste of time. Of course it won't do! I can't live here without a desk."

(The Withdrawing Room by Charlotte MacLeod)

(3) "Over the hills and far away"
"We just had a chat. I explained I was likely very soon to be a man of some importance at J. T. Hardy's and hoped his policy of co-operation with the company would continue. He was very interested. I mentioned your name as a personal friend of mine, just in passing. I hop you don't mind."

"But the police...Christ! No wonder that old hypocrite was interested in what Vickers had been saying."

"The police have been whistling in the dark. You gave them a tune to have a go at for a while, but it's over the hills and far away now. So, what do you say, Billy? I wouldn't be surprised if Edmunds weren't trying to get hold of you at this very moment. How about a future full of mutual goodwill and co-operation? Comrades once and comrades ever!"

("A Very Good Hater" by Reginald Hill)

Mr.Takahashi's posting:

(1) Who killed Cock Robin?
"Who killed Johnny Ralph Dorchet?" I asked, after we had gone a couple of blocks in silence.

"I thought it was Cock Robin." She stirred a little at my side. Her tone was sleepy.

(2) Humpty Dumpty

"And this, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the original Humpty-Dumpty --- the one

what gave the king's men so much trouble. Pay your money and come in! Walk up

and see 'im fall off the wall! "

( Hugh Lofting; Doctor Dolittle's Circus, Puffin, 1977, p.17)

Mrs. Nasuno's posting:

(1) "Five Little Pig"
Freshmen Shari and Kit pig out, indulging in eating binges: Cake, cookies, a half-gallon of ice cream and such. In eating that mush they are trying to offer themselves some mothering comfort for their loneliness. They are two little piggies who wish they could have stayed home.

( Judith Viorst: Necessary Losses, 1987 )

Mrs. Hirano's posting:

(1) One misty, moisty morning

　　 This is Charlie.
How d'you do? And how d'you do?
And how d'you do again? 

( "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" Roald Dahl)

Mr. Fujino's postings:

(1) Old Mother Hubbard

I eased to the curb, killed the engine, and cllimbed out of the Mercedes. The rain had stopped, and the street was as quiet as a museum. I went up the brick sidewalk and the steps to the door, where, just for the hell of it, I rang the bell. Of course there was no answer, and after waiting for all of thirty seconds, I checked in the flowerpot,where I found nothing but dirt and a long-gone geranium. On a hunch, I picked up the welcome mat, but that cupboard was bare, too.

( Robert Goldsborough, The Bloodied Ivy )

(2) Little Miss Muffet

A soft laugh answered her. "Remember the old joke about little Miss Muffet?"

She shook her head in confusion. "What--?"

"Little Miss Muffet. You know. The children's rhyme."

"Cable, I don't know what--"

"` Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet eating her curds and whey. Along came a spider and sat down beside her and said, "What's in the bowl, bitch--'" He laughed. "Come on, you remember that one. What's in the bowl, bitch..." He laughed again, then it died away, and his voice hardened. "What's in the purse, bitch?"

( Came a Spider by Michael Hammonds, 1989)

(3) Oranges and Lemons

`Cause of death. Strangulation.' He came down the ladder. `It probably

took him half an hour to die,' he said. `Well, Sergeant. Oranges and lemons,

eh?'

`Sir?'

`Oranges and lemons? You know, the nursery rhyme?'

`Er...no, sir.' Dickens was lost.

`Were you never a child, Sergeant? No, don't answer that. You were a

pamphlet when you were younger, weren't you, before you grew into a bloody

encyclopaedia.'

( Lestrade and the Leviathan by M.J.Trow)

(4) Oranges and Lemons

It was so damned hard. Getting in, he recalled the end of an old rhyme:

Here comes the chopper to chop off your head. It was the perfect sentiment.

Any misstep on his part made him feel she was ready and waiting to chop off your

head. The hell with that.

( Donato & Daughter , by Jack Early, 1988 )

(5) (6) King of Hearts & Humpty Dumpty

Harvey laughed. `Some. My father-in-law, for instance, he's an obvious

King of Hearts : Officious, a bit bumbling, but really quite likeable.'

`Are you, yourself?'

`Oh, I'm the Knave, definitely. I stole the tarts--perhaps that should be

singular but then it would sound rude and we should never be rude, should we?" A

pause and he went on: `Of course I could be Humpty Dumpty ?'

`Well, poor chap, he was balanced on a wall, wasn't he? And his only way

off was to fall .'

(Wycliffe and the Tangle Web by W.J. Burley)

(7) Baa, baa, black sheep,

"But he did threaten you with the sack?"

Rupert was contemptuous. “Me, Carl, Jack---everyone. You name me one

person who hadn't been threatened---"

“I was told that Fitz---"

“Fitz!" Rupert's scorn was fierce, “Who's Fitz? A shadow of a man. `Yes,

sir, no sir, three bags full, sir.' You can't include Fitz in all this."

“He was there."

( "Fatality at Bath & Wells" by Nancy Livingston)

(8) Curly Locks
"Not today, and probably not for the rest of the week. Doctor's orders,

remember: `Thou shalt not wash dishes, nor yet feed the swine'! We'll find

someone in the village to cook and clean for us." (p.9)
(“Pretty Maids All in a Row" by Anthea Fraser c '86)

(9) Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town

"Who the hell else? Willie Winkie on his run through the town?"(p.150)

(“Pretty Maids All in a Row" by Anthea Fraser c '86)

(10) Round and round the garden

Now he felt no further on than when he'd started. Round and round the

garden--- (p.157)

(“Pretty Maids All in a Row" by Anthea Fraser c '86)

(11) Ba, ba black sheep

"But he did threaten you with the sack?"

Rupert was contemptuous. “Me, Carl, Jack--everyone. You name me one

person who hadn't been threatened--"

“I was told that Fitz--"

“Fitz!" Rupert's scorn was fierce, “Who's Fitz? A shadow of a man. `Yes,

sir, no sir, three bags full, sir.' You can't include Fitz in all this."

( Fatality at Bath & Wells, by Nancy Livingston)

(12) Oranges and lemons

"I'm sorry, Gregson. Was this another crank one?"

“Fairly. Raving on about the King not being fit to sit on the throne, and

then that bit of old nusery rhyme:`Here comes a chopper to chop off his head.'

It's obvious enough what it meant. Daft, but a plain threat, all the same.

With the Coronation coming we can't be too careful."

( The Revenge of the Hoand, by Michael Hardwick)

(13) Mary, Mary, quite contrary

Slight looked at my pigtails this time and said, “Well, if it isn't Little

Mary Milkmaid." He grinned. “So how does your garden grow?"

"With silver bells and cockleshells." I laid the "souvenir" on the kitchen

counter, then wiped my hand off on my jeans. He raised his eyebrows at th ugly

thing, then at me. "And rattles all in a row."

( "Bum Steer" by Nancy Pickard)

(14) Tweedledum and Tweedledee

They were twins, alike in their dark, graying hair, in their pudgy

Tweedledum and Tweedledee bodies, and their blue eyes, abut very different in

temperament. She wasn't so bad, really, although she seemed gruff and pushy

compared to her shy, stuttering brother. Mark Railing stuttered less as he

relazed more. There was something both endearing and annoying about this timid,

middle-aged son of Cat Benet, and his win sister.

( "Bum Steer" by Nancy Pickard)

(15) What are little boys made of?

By the way, I'm sorry about scaring you with the rattler, like some damned

fool adolescent boy with snakes and snails and puppy dog tails. I'd had a

fight with Carl that morning---remember all the blood?---and he'd as much as

come out and admitted he knew the truth about Laddy.

( "Bum Steer" by Nancy Pickard)

(16) Mary had a littl lamb

We ambled toward centerstage on the pier where the eight other members of

our committee were gathering, prodded by gentle shoves from Mary Eberhardt. In

her soft pink summer dress and her straw hat with pink ribbons, she looked less

like a cheerleader than like Mary of nursery-rhyme fame,herding her lazy sheep.

"Here, Webster," she commanded. “Not there, Jenny, back here beside Goose"

“Yes, Mary," I said.

“Yes, dear." Her husband smiled.

( Say No to Murder by Nancy Pickard)

(17) Old Mother Hubbard

"Look Perce, we'd have been OK if Old Mother Hubbard here hadn't got that

laugh," said Horatio, still in his punk hair-do. “One laugh like that against

the show, and we'd lost the audience for good."

“Yes, Perce," Hamlet chimed in. “That was what threw us, her standing

there for hours like the Statue of Liberty before she took her cue."

( Menacing Groves by John Sherwood)

(1) Rain, rain, go away;

"Rain, rain, go away; rubbers, raincoats for today..."

( "There will come Soft Rains," Ray Bradbury 1984 ）

Mr. Moriyama's posting:

Catherine loved the unusual names of London pubs. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese and the Falstaff and the Goat in Boots.

On another night they went to a colorful old public house in City Road called the Eagle.

“I'll bet you used to sing about this place when you were a child,"
Kirk said.

Catherine stared at him. “Sing about it? I've never even heard of this place."

“Yes, you have. The Eagle is where an old nursery rhyme comes from."

“What nursery rhyme?"

“Years ago, City Road used to be the heart of the tailoring trade,
and toward the end of the week, the tailors would find themselves short of money,

and they'd put their pressing iron--or weasel--into pawn until payday.
So someone wrote a nursery rhyme about it:

“Up and down the city road

In and out the Eagle

That's the way the money goes

Pop goes the weasel."

Catherine laughed, “How in the world did you know that?"

“Lawyers are supposed to know everything...

( "MEMORIES OF MIDNIGHT" by Sidney Sheldon, Warner Books)

Mr.Fujino's postings:

(1) Simple Simon

“Simon," I said, suddenly beset by the trepidation born of experience,

“ You will be good tomorrow, won't you?" He was a superb museum director in many

ways, but a lousy diplomat. I always held my breath during his dealings with

donors; they have to be handled with kid gloves and he didn't have a pair to his

name. I said nervously, “You won't get mad and do something I'll regret?"

He laughed, a shade wildly, I thought.

“Oh, ye of little faith, " he said, “you can count on Simple Simon.

I'll be good as gold, Jenny love, I'll be ..."

( Generous Death by Nancy Pickard )

(2) Old woman in a shoe

Officially, legally, it's the Port Frederick, Massachusetts, Civic Foundation.

It was established in 1968 by a family who, to paraphrase the rhyme about the old lady in the shoe,

had so much money they didn't know what to do. So, having done well, they did good.

Still more to their credit, they encouraged their rich friends to bequeath all or part of their estates to The Foundation,

thus compounding not only its net worth and yearly income but also its potential for charitable grants.

( Generous Death by Nancy Pickard )

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