Fly and the Bumblebee, The (Fiddle-Dee-Dee)

DESCRIPTION: "Fiddle-dee-dee, fiddle-dee-dee, The fly has married the bumblebee, Says the fly, says he, 'Will you marry me, and live with me, sweet Bumblebee?'" The fly promises not to sting the larger insect. Parson Beetle marries the two. All ends happily
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1740 (Wiltshire MS, according to Opie/Opie-OxfordDictionaryOfNurseryRhymes)
KEYWORDS: bug marriage clergy courting
FOUND IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Linscott-FolkSongsOfOldNewEngland, pp. 196-198, "Fiddle Dee Dee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie/Opie-OxfordDictionaryOfNurseryRhymes 88, "A cat came fiddling out of a barn" (2 texts); 168, "Fiddle-de-dee, fiddle-de-dee" (2 texts)
Baring-Gould-AnnotatedMotherGoose #179, pp. 128-129, "(A cat came fiddling out of a barn)"; #276, p. 164, "(Fiddle-dee-dee, fiddle-dee-dee)"
Roud #3731
RECORDINGS:
Tom Hanford, "Fiddle-dee-dee" (Piotr-Archive #650, recorded 08/16/2023)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Frog Went A-Courting" (theme)
NOTES [56 words]: In the Mother Goose "cat came fiddling" texts, it is not a fly but a mouse that marries the bumblebee. It's not clear which combination is more original -- the wedding of two insects is less utterly illogical, so it might be an improvement, but the mouse might also come in by way of confusion with "Frog Went A-Courting" or the like. - RBW
File: Lins196

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