I Love Little Pussy

DESCRIPTION: "I love little pussy, Her coat is so warm, And if I don't hurt her She'll do me no harm. So I'll not pull her tail, Nor drive her away, But pussy and I Very gently will play."
AUTHOR: sometimes attributed to Jane Taylor, according to the Opies
EARLIEST DATE: 1830 ("The Child's Song Book," according to the Opies)
KEYWORDS: animal nonballad
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Kane-SongsAndSayingsOfAnUlsterChildhood, p. 144, "I live little pussy, her coat is so warm" (1 short text)
Opie/Opie-OxfordDictionaryOfNurseryRhymes 427, "I Love Little Pussy" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-AnnotatedMotherGoose #812, p. 302, "(I like little pussy)"
Dolby-OrangesAndLemons, p. 102, "I Love Little Pussy" (1 text)
Roud #12824
NOTES [55 words]: Even though there is no evidence that this is older than the early nineteenth century, the amazing Katherine Elwes Thomas, The Real Personages of Mother Goose, Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., 1930, pp. 158-159, believes it is about Robert Devereux, second Earl of Essex, favorite of Elizabeth I at the end of the sixteenth century. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.2
File: OO2427

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