Kid's Songs, Lullabies and Nursery Rhymes For Your Little Stars

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Little Miss Muffet
Sat on a tuffet
Eating her curds and whey
Along came a spider
And sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away

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Origins of "Little Miss Muffet"

The identity of "Little Miss Muffet" is up for debate.

One claim is that the rhyme refers to Mary, Queen of Scots (1543-1587), who sat on the Scottish throne as the Catholic Queen of a Protestant Country, and who was frightened of the Protestant reformer, John Knox (1510-1572). However, literary scholars dismiss this as urban legend.

Another theory is that she is Patience Muffet, daughter of the Puritan entomologist Dr. Thomas Muffet (1553-1604). Muffet's 1599 book of turgid verses, "The Silkwormes And Their Flies", certainly confirms that he fancied himself as a poet, and his name and chosen subject matter point to him having written it.

However, the first known publication of the rhyme was not until 1805, in "Songs For The Nursery" - more than 200 years after Muffet's death.

Early versions of the rhyme suggest that she sat on a "buffet" - a north of England word for a three legged stool. A tuffet is a grassy hillock.

Curds and Whey is made by curdling milk so that it separates out into solids and liquids - part of the process of making cheese. Cottage Cheese is the nearest modern equivalent.

Origins text ©2011 TwinkleTrax Children's Songs.