Monday's Child

DESCRIPTION: "Monday's child is fair of face, Tuesday's child is full of grace, Wednesday's child is full of woe, Thursday's child has far to go, Friday's child is loving and giving, Saturday's child works hard for his living." Other lines regard Sunday or Christmas
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1838 (Bray, Traditions of Devonshire, according to Opie/Opie-OxfordDictionaryOfNurseryRhymes)
KEYWORDS: children
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North)) Ireland
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Opie/Opie-OxfordDictionaryOfNurseryRhymes 353, "Monday's child is fair of face" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-AnnotatedMotherGoose #533, p. 218, "(Monday's child is fair of face)"
Jack-PopGoesTheWeasel, p. 137, "Monday's Child is Fair of Face" (1 text)
Dolby-OrangesAndLemons, p. 46, "Monday' Child Is Fair of Face" (1 text)
Newell-GamesAndSongsOfAmericanChildren, #149, "Counting Rhymes" (8 texts of the "One-ery, Two-ery, Ickery, Ann" type, 4 of "Eenie Meenie Minie Mo (Counting Rhyme)", 1 of "Intery Mintery Cutery Corn", 1 of "Alphabet Songs", 1 of "Monday's Child", and 20 miscellaneous rhymes)
Welsch-NebraskaPioneerLore, p. 276, "(no title)" (1 text)
Delamar-ChildrensCountingOutRhymes, pp. 64-65, "Born on Days" (1 text)
Kane-SongsAndSayingsOfAnUlsterChildhood, p. 111, "Monday's child is fair of face" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Marjorie Rowling, _The Folklore of the Lake District_, Rowman and Littlefield, 1976, p. 130, "(Monday's child is fair of face") (1 short text)

Roud #19526
NOTES [44 words]: According to Dolby-OrangesAndLemons, the birth of Charles, the son of the soon-to-be Queen Elizabeth II, inspired a great debate in Britain about the "correct" version of this poem. I suspect that any "definitive" answer that was reached was, in fact, wrong. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.5
File: OO2353

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