Going to St. Ives
Version 1
As I was going to St. Ives
I met a man with seven wives.
Every wife had seven sacks.
Every sack had seven cats.
Every cat had seven kits.
Kits, cats, sacks, and wives,
How many were going to St. Ives?
Source: Wright, The Original Mother Goose (1916)
Version 2
As I went to St. Ives
I met Nine Wives
And every Wife had nine Sacks
And every Sack had nine Cats
And every Cat had Nine Kittens
Source: Harley, MS 7316 (c. 1730)
Historical Background
“Going to St. Ives” proposes a riddle. The answer depends on how the question is read; it is unclear whether the group the narrator met was going to St. Ives as well. They could be coming from St. Ives, going elsewhere or nowhere at all. If all groups are not going to St. Ives, the answer would then be one, the narrator himself. If one assumes all parties are indeed going to St. Ives, then the answer can be calculated mathematically: 2,403.
