Little Tommy Tucker
Version 1
Little Tommy Tucker,
Sings for his supper.
What shall he eat?
White bread and butter.
How shall he cut it without any knife?
How will he be married without a wife?
(Mother Goose Club version)
Version 2
Little Tommy Tucker,
Sings for his supper.
What shall we give him?
White bread and butter.
How shall he cut it without a knife?
How will he be married without a wife?
Source: The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (1997)
Historical Background
Little is known about the subject of the poem. Some possibilities are a Thomas Tucker who was appointed 'Prince or Lorde of the Revells' at St. Johns College in 1607, and a 'Tom Tuck' noted in one of Herrick's epigrams in 'Witt's Creations" (1640). To 'sing for one's supper' had become a conventional saying in English literature by the early seventeenth century.
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