John Cook Had a Little Grey Mare

DESCRIPTION: "John Cook had a little grey mare, Hee, haw, hum, Her back stood up and her bones were bare, Hee, haw, hum." He rides up Shooter's Bank and Shooter's Hill, as the mare suffers, falls down, and makes her will
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1810 (Gammer Gurton's Garland, according to Opie/Opie-OxfordDictionaryOfNurseryRhymes)
KEYWORDS: horse injury lastwill | bridle and saddle on shelf
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "OLD GREY MARE, THE"
Opie/Opie-OxfordDictionaryOfNurseryRhymes 276, "John Cook had a little grey mare" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-AnnotatedMotherGoose #114, p. 95, "(John Cook had a little grey mare)"
Delamar-ChildrensCountingOutRhymes, p. 83, "John Cook" (1 text)
Roud #5418
NOTES [30 words]: Widely believed to go back to the time of Elizabeth I, but I haven't seen absolute proof. Steve Gardham cites a manuscript dated c. 1530, which would be the reign of Henry VIII. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: OO20276

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