Goosey, Goosey Gander is a nursery rhyme with a historical subtext rooted in religious intolerance.

Goosey, goosey gander

Whither shall I wander?

Upstairs and downstairs

And in my lady’s chamber.

There I met an old man

Who wouldn’t say his prayers.

I took him by the left leg

And threw him down the stairs.

Additional Concluding Lines

The stairs went “crack” / He broke his back / And all the little ducks went “quack, quack, quack.”

Alternate 1

Goose-a-goose-a, gander, / Where shall I wander? / Up stairs, down stairs, / In my lady’s chamber; / There you’ll find a cup of sack. / And a race of ginger.

Alternate 2

Old father Long-Legs / Can’t say his prayers: / Take him by the left leg, / And throw him down stairs. / And when he’s at the bottom, / Before he long has lain, / Take him by the right leg, / And throw him up again.

Traditional Interpretation

The traditional interpretation of this rhyme regards it as an account of the religious upheaval in England during the sixteenth century.

The lady’s chamber is the private room of a high born lady. The lady in this rhyme, apparently had a ‘Priest Hole’ in her room to hide a Catholic Priest. A Priest Hole is a very small hidden room. Priest holes were necessary at this time because those found harboring a priest were executed along with the priest.

The old man who wouldn’t say his prayers refers to the fact that Catholic Priests said their prayers in Latin instead of the using correct language for prayers which according to Protestants was in English. Those who did not ‘convert’ to the Protestant way were executed.

A Specific Event Recorded in the Rhyme

Katherine Elwes Thomas in her book The Many Personages of Mother Goose (1930) proposed a specific incident as the source for the rhyme. The old man who wouldn’t say his prayers was Cardinal Beaton. Beaton did not follow the reformed doctrine of the Convenanters who insisted that prayers be said in English and not Latin.

Cardinal Beaton was thrown “down the stairs.” Once he reached the bottom, he was stabbed to death. His body was then hung from the walls of his castle.

The Evolution of the Rhyme

It is not clear how it happened but the rhyme as we know it today is a merger of the two alternate rhymes listed above.

Difficult Words in Alternate 1

A “cup of sack” refers to vine sec or dry wine.

“Race” is a word used for root and is now obsolete.

Difficult Words in Alternate 2

“Old father Long-Legs refers to one of the insects we call daddy longlegs, harvestman, or crane fly. The Annotated Mother Goose explains that this rhyme was said to children cruel enough to pull the legs of these insects.

For another nursery rhyme about religious intolerance, read Mary, Mary Quite Contrary.

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.