Poor Pussy-cat Mew burns a hole in her best petticoat jumping over a coal, and cries until it's mended. A small domestic disaster with a happy, fixable ending.
From Mother Goose / Nursery Rhymes (traditional). See the whole collection.
Pussy-cat Mew jumped over a coal,
And in her best petticoat burnt a great hole.
Poor Pussy's weeping, she'll have no more milk
Until her best petticoat's mended with silk.
About this rhyme
Text: 'jumped over a coal' (singular) and 'burnt a great hole', plus 'she'll have no more milk / Until her best petticoat's mended with silk.'
A small cautionary rhyme, cat-shaped. Pussy jumps over a hot coal and burns a great hole in her best petticoat. She gets no more milk until it's mended with silk, and she weeps about it the whole time. No history attached, just a tidy cause and effect for a child to follow. Mime the jump and the burn as you say it.
Public domain. Text from The Real Mother Goose (Blanche Fisher Wright, 1916), via Project Gutenberg. View the source edition