The famous merry king who calls for his pipe, his bowl and his fiddlers three, paired here with the short riddle See, See. A well-loved standard with a rollicking, musical rhythm that carries small listeners along.
Sung to its own jolly tune.
From Mother Goose / Nursery Rhymes (traditional). See the whole collection.
Old King Cole
Was a merry old soul,
And a merry old soul was he;
He called for his pipe,
And he called for his bowl,
And he called for his fiddlers three!
And every fiddler, he had a fine fiddle,
And a very fine fiddle had he.
"Twee tweedle dee, tweedle dee," went the fiddlers.
Oh, there's none so rare
As can compare
With King Cole and his fiddlers three.
SEE, SEE
See, see! What shall I see?
A horse's head where his tail should be.
About this rhyme
First printed in 1708. Ever since, people have gone hunting for the real King Cole: a Reading cloth merchant, a British chieftain from the years after the Romans left, a few others besides. Nobody has proved any of them, and the merry old soul may be no one in particular. What survives is a king who wants three things only. His pipe, his bowl, and his fiddlers three.
This is one to join in with. Hold up three fingers for the fiddlers, and let children saw away on imaginary strings for the 'twee tweedle dee'. Each verse adds another player, so it grows the longer you go. A cheerful one for a group, and better for winding up than winding down.
Public domain. Text from The Real Mother Goose (Blanche Fisher Wright, 1916), via Project Gutenberg. View the source edition