Dance, Thumbkin, Dance

DESCRIPTION: A childrens's game for the fingers: "Dance, Thumbkin, dance, Dance, ye merry men, every one: But Thumbkin, he can dance alone, Thumbkin, he can dance alone." Similarly for the other four digits, Foreman, Longman, Ringman, Littleman
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1831 (Mrs Child's Girls Own Book, according to Opie/Opie-OxfordDictionaryOfNurseryRhymes)
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Opie/Opie-OxfordDictionaryOfNurseryRhymes 500, "Dance, Thumbkin, dance" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-AnnotatedMotherGoose #576, p. 233, "(Dance Thumbkin, Dance)"
Solomon-ZickaryZan, p. 14, "(Little one, Ring One)" (1 short text, possibly a variant on this)
Roud #12837
File: BGMG576

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography