Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat, Where Have You Been?

DESCRIPTION: "Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been? I've been to London to look at the queen. Pussy cat, pussy cat, what did you there? I frightened a little mouse under her chair"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1805 (Songs for the Nursery, according to Opie/Opie-OxfordDictionaryOfNurseryRhymes)
KEYWORDS: dialog animal royalty
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Bord))
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Lyle-Andrew-CrawfurdsCollectionVolume2 191, "Cheitie Cheitie Bawdrons" (1 text)
Opie/Opie-OxfordDictionaryOfNurseryRhymes 428, "Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been?" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-AnnotatedMotherGoose #150, p. 116, "(Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been?)"
Montgomerie/Montgomerie-ScottishNurseryRhymes 1, "(Pussy, pussy baudrons)" (1 text)
Jack-PopGoesTheWeasel, p. 164, "Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat" (1 text)
Dolby-OrangesAndLemons, p. 57, "Pussycat, Pussycat, Where Have You Been?" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Robert Chambers, The Popular Rhymes of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1870 ("Digitized by Google")),")), p. 23, ("Poussie, poussie, baudrons, Where hae ye been?") (1 text)
ST OO2428 (Partial)
Roud #15094
NOTES [71 words]: According to the Baring-Goulds, there was an incident similar to this during the reign of Elizabeth I, and many have thought the song refers to that.
There is an English proverb, "A cat may look at a king," which is quoted, e.g., in Alice in Wonderland, chapter VIII, "The Queen's Croquet Ground." The idea also appears in Baring-Gould-AnnotatedMotherGoose #759, p. 759. Whether either is in any way related I do not know. - RBW
Last updated in version 3.3
File: OO2428

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