| "Hickory Dickory Dock" | |
|---|---|
 Illustration by William Wallace Denslow, from a 1901 Mother Goose collection | |
| Nursery rhyme | |
| Published | 1744 |
| Songwriter(s) | Traditional |
"Hickory Dickory Dock" or "Hickety Dickety Dock" is a popular English-language nursery rhyme. The Roud Folk Song Index number is 6489. [1]
The most common modern version is:
Hickory dickory dock.
The mouse ran up the clock.
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down,
Hickory dickory dock.
[2]
Other variants include "down the mouse ran" [3] or "down the mouse run" [4] or "and down he ran" or "and down he run" in place of "the mouse ran down". Other variants have non-sequential numbers, for example starting with "The clock struck ten, The mouse ran down" instead of the traditional "one".[ citation needed ]
The earliest recorded version of the rhyme is in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book , published in London in May 1744, which uses the opening line: 'Hickere, Dickere Dock'. [2] The next recorded version in Mother Goose's Melody (c. 1765), uses 'Dickery, Dickery Dock'. [2]
The rhyme is thought by some commentators to have originated as a counting-out rhyme. [2] Westmorland shepherds in the nineteenth century used the numbers Hevera (8), Devera (9) and Dick (10) which are from the language Cumbric. [2]
The rhyme is thought to have been based on the astronomical clock at Exeter Cathedral. The clock has a small hole in the door below the face for the resident cat to hunt mice. [5]
