Pussycat, Pussycat: A Picture
No Hidden Meanings in this Nursery Rhyme
Explanation
Pussycat, pussycat, where have you been?
I’ve been to London to look at the Queen.
Pussycat, pussycat, what did you there?
I frightened a little mouse under her chair.
The Queen in this rhyme is Elizabeth I (1533-1603). Apparently, one of Elizabeth’s ladies in waiting had a cat that visited the throne room and startled the Queen by brushing against her foot when crawling under the throne. The Queen agreed to allow the cat to remain as long as it removed all mice from the throne room.
Digging Deeper
A simple image given in a simple rhyme is all we find in Pussycat, Pussycat, right? It ought to be. William A. Miller uses it in his book Big Kids’ Mother Goose to illustrate the idea of destiny. Say what? Yep, destiny. Still, while Miller may go astray in his thoughts about a deeper meaning for this poem his initial thoughts aim directly at the idea that this rhyme is simply a vignette of life as it actually is.
...to visit the queen! Oh, absolute ecstasy! What a thrill and honor and privilege for any cat! But what happens? ... No royal reception, no conversation with the queen, no mission accomplished.
So when the cat returns home everyone excitedly says, “Pussycat, pussycat, where have you been?”
And the cat replies, “I’ve been to London to visit the queen.”
And they ask, “Oh pussycat, pussycat what did you there.”
And the pussycat, somewhat sheepishly answers, “I frightened a little mouse...under the queen’s chair.”
Oh well, that’s the way cats are. That’s destiny. That’s the way destiny would have it.(Miller, 51-52).
It is a simple word picture of life as it is.
Variations
Version 1
As is often the case with nursery rhymes, there are a number of variations for this rhyme.
Pussycat pussycat, where have you been?
I've been up to London to visit the Queen.
Pussycat pussycat, what did you dare?
I frightened a little mouse under her chair
MEOWW!
Version 2
Pussycat, pussycat where have you been?
I’ve been to grandmother over the green.
What did she give you? Milk in can.
What did you say for it? Thank you, Grandam!
Version 3
Little girl, little girl, where have you been?
Gathering roses to take to the queen.
Little girl, little girl, what gave she you?
She gave me a diamond as big as my shoe.
To learn more about nobility in nursery rhymes, check out Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary, Hey Diddle, Diddle, and Ride a Cock Horse.
Sources
Baring Gould, William S and Ceil. The Annotated Mother Goose. Bramhall House, 1962.
Christensen, James C. Rhyme and Reasons an Annotated Collection of Mother Goose Rhymes. The Greenwhich Workshop Press, 1997.
Miller, William A. Big Kids’ Mother Goose. Augsburg Publishing House, 1976.
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