What's Little Babies Made Of?

DESCRIPTION: "What's old women made of?... Reels and jeels and old spinning wheels, And that's what old women are made of." "What's little boys made of?... Piggins and pails and puppy dogs' tails." "What's little babies made of?... Sugar and..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1844 (Halliwell, according to Opie/Opie-OxfordDictionaryOfNurseryRhymes)
KEYWORDS: nonballad children
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber)) US(Ap,SE) New Zealand
REFERENCES (12 citations):
Greig/Duncan8 1709, "What Folk Are Made Of" (6 texts, 4 tunes)
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #150, pp. 1-2, "Fat Folk's Made o'" (3 texts)
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 227, "What are Little Boys made of?" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Sharp/Karpeles-EightyEnglishFolkSongs 79, "What's Little Babies Made Of?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 143, "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" (1 text)
Lomax/Lomax-AmericanBalladsAndFolkSongs, pp. 303-304, "What Folks Are Made Of" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sutton-Smith-NZ-GamesOfNewZealandChilden/FolkgamesOfChildren, p. 134, "(Little boys are made of slugs and snails)" (1 text)
Opie/Opie-OxfordDictionaryOfNurseryRhymes 76, "What are little boys made of?" (2 texts)
Baring-Gould-AnnotatedMotherGoose #320, pp. 175-176, "(What are little boys made of?)"
Jack-PopGoesTheWeasel, p. 230, "What Are Little Boys Made Of?" (1 text)
Dolby-OrangesAndLemons, p. 151, "What Are Little Boys Made Of?" (1 text)
NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal, Daniel W. Patterson, "Archive Notes," Vol. XVI, No. 1 (May 1968), pp. 36-37, "What Are Little Babies Made Of?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #821
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Song of All Nations" (concept)
cf. "I'll Kiss Ye Yet" (tune, per Greig/Duncan8)
NOTES [45 words]: The notes to The Annotated Mother Goose say that this has been attributed to Robert Southey, but also say that no supporting evidence has been offered. It does note that the first published version, Halliwell's, describes only what little boys and girls are made of. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.1
File: SKE79

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