THERE was a little guinea pig,
Who being little was not big;
He always walked upon his feet,
And never fasted when he eat.
When from a place he ran away,
He never at the place did stay;
And while he ran, as I am told,
He ne’er stood still for young or old.
He often squeaked and sometimes violent,
And when he squeaked he ne’er was silent;
Though ne’er instructed by a cat,
He knew a mouse was not a rat.
One day, as I am certified,
He took a whim and fairly died;
And as I’m told by men of sense
He never has been living since.
Originating in South America, guinea pigs have been domesticated for over a thousand years (although they are still a favourite snack in Peru). They first came to Europe during the sixteenth century, following the discovery of the Americas, and legend has it that the first person in Britain to have one as a pet was Elizabeth I.
Unfortunately, this means that my favourite theory behind this rhyme now looks pretty far-fetched. According to this interpretation, the guinea pig is Richard III (1452-85). King Richard’s royal emblem was a great white boar and to refer to him as a guinea pig was therefore a wholly intentional insult. The cat in verse three is supposedly William Catesby, Richard’s Chancellor of the Exchequer and Speaker of the House of Commons (see also Hey Diddle Diddle). He was thought to be the most powerful man in England at the time and a huge influence on the king. The rat is Sir Richard Ratcliffe, a childhood friend and valued adviser of the king. The rhyme refers to the close relationship between the three men and the supposed influence the cat and the rat had over the king, but, as I said, this was over a century before guinea pigs came to England for the first time.
The lyrics probably have no hidden meaning but are just trying to be humorous, the whole purpose of the rhyme being its nonsensical yoking together of a string of tautological phrases – being little was not big… never fasted when he eat – to make children laugh.