Comments

Bancroft wrote that this, "…counting-out rhyme is famous in literary annals as having been taught to Sir Walter Scott before his open fire by that dainty little maiden, Marjorie Fleming."

Marjorie Fleming was a child writer and poet who died in her childhood of meningitis. She kept a journal of the last year and a half of her life. It's believed that she was distantly related to Sir Walter Scott.

Thanks and Acknowledgements

This rhyme can be found in Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium (1909) by Jessie H. Bancroft.