Jack and Jill
Version 1
Jack and Jill went up the hill,
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.
Up Jack got and home did trot,
As fast as he could caper,
And went to bed to mend his head
With vinegar and brown paper.
Source: Wier, Songs the Children Love to Sing (1916)
Version 2
Jack and Jill went up the hill,
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.
Up Jack got and home did trot,
As fast as he could caper,
And went to bed to mend his head
With vinegar and brown paper.
Jill came in, and she did grin,
To see his paper plaster.
Mother vexed, did whip her next,
For causing Jack’s disaster.
Source: Elliott, Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Songs (1870)
Version 3
Jack and Jill
Went up the hill,
To fetch a pail of water
Jack fell down,
And broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.
Then up Jack got,
And home did trot,
As fast as he could caper;
Dame Gill did the job,
To plaster his nob
With vinegar and brown paper.
Then Jill came in,
And she did grin,
To see Jack’s paper plaster;
Her mother whipt her,
Across her knee,
For laughing at Jack’s disaster.
Source: Kendrew, Chapbook (1820)
Historical Background
“Jack and Jill” has several historical interpretations. One theory relates the rhyme to the beheadings of Louis XVI (“lost his crown”) and Marie Antoinette (“who came tumbling after”), which occurred during the Reign of Terror in 1793. Another theory claims that Cardinal Wolsey, a prominent English statesman and figure in the Roman Catholic Church during the reign of Henry VIII, is Jack and Bishop Tarbes, who failed to marry Mary Tudor to Louis XII, King of France, is Jill. The rhyme’s earliest publication was in John Newbery’s “Mother Goose’s Melody” around 1760.
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