WHO killed Cock Robin?
I, said the Sparrow,
With my bow and arrow,
I killed Cock Robin.
Who saw him die?
I, said the Fly,
With my little eye,
I saw him die.
Pop Goes the Weasel
Who caught his blood?
I, said the Fish,
With my little dish,
I caught his blood.
Who will make the shroud?
I, said the Beetle,
With my thread and needle,
I’ll make the shroud.
Who will dig his grave?
I, said the Owl,
With my pick and shovel,
I will dig his grave.
Who will be the parson?
I, said the Rook,
With my little book,
I shall be the parson.
Who will be the clerk?
I, said the Lark,
If it is not in the dark,
I will be the clerk.
Who will carry the link?
I, said the Linnet,
I will fetch it in a minute,
I’ll carry the link.
Who will carry the coffin?
I, said the Kite,
If it’s not through the night,
I will carry the coffin.
Who will bear the pall?
We, said the Wren,
Both the cock and the hen,
We’ll bear the pall.
Who will sing a psalm?
I, said the Thrush
As she sat on a bush,
I will sing a psalm.
Who will toll the bell?
I, said the Bull,
Because I can pull,
I will toll the bell.
All the birds of the air
Fell a-sighing and a-sobbing
When they heard the bell toll
For poor Cock Robin.
A tragic tale told in timeless language, ‘Who Killed Cock Robin?’ is in some ways more akin to a folksong than a nursery rhyme. Like many rhymes, however, it has a repetitive format that creates a cumulative effect (see For Want of a Nail and This is the House That Jack Built), as the various birds are listed, along with their rhyming actions. But is the rhyme more than just a glorified avian roll-call?
As so often with traditional songs and rhymes, various theories about this one’s origins abound but with little evidence to back them up. The most popular of these suggests that the song is about the death of the folk hero Robin Hood, or ‘Cocky Robin’, and that all the birds and animals of Sherwood Forest are mourning him. However, the only link between the famous outlaw and the rhyme lies in the name Robin and in the connection with archery; the stories are otherwise very different. According to the legend, Robin Hood dies at the hands of a prioress, his cousin, who bleeds him to death. By the time Little John, his right-hand man, gets to him, he’s already dying. With one final burst of strength, he shoots an arrow out of the tower window to the spot where he wishes to be buried, and then he promptly passes away.
Another theory concerns the story of William Rufus, son of William the Conqueror and king of England from 1087 to 1100, who was mysteriously shot with an arrow while hunting in the New Forest. The Rufus Stone, erected in 1865, marks the spot where he was supposedly killed, but there’s little evidence of any connection between his death and the nursery rhyme.
The rhyme was first published in 1744, and it has been argued that it is actually a political poem about the downfall of Robert Walpole’s government two years earlier. However, its language and content suggest it is a lot older than that.
But the most likely interpretation harks back to medieval folk beliefs about the robin. Traditionally the bird got its red breast from trying to wipe the blood away from the face of Jesus on the cross. Hence from the Middle Ages onwards, the robin was seen as a symbol of Christ. The poem is also strikingly ritualistic. The important events are the death and funeral of Cock Robin – there is no blame or retribution. It was once commonly believed (indeed, Thomas Hardy wrote a poem about it – ‘The Oxen’) that all farmyard animals knelt at midnight on Christmas Eve to celebrate Christ’s birth. Echoing this, the rhyme shows animals mourning his death on Good Friday.