The thing about nursery rhymes that have stood the test of time over the centuries is that they’re nice and neat little packages that can present any number of ideas, lessons or scenarios. They’re like diamonds shaped by the years and the pressure of subsistence.
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And the brief yet evocative nursery rhyme from 1805, “Pussy Cat Pussy Cat,” is no different. Here below, let’s dive into the meaning and the history of the rhyme.
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The Outsider
Back in the times when kings and queens were prevalent, there was a sense that certain people or things just didn’t belong in their courts. Rarely would they deign to allow a commoner into their palatial surroundings. And that is the substance behind the nursery rhyme at hand. For “Pussy Cat Pussy Cat” reads,
Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been?
I’ve been to London to visit the Queen.
Pussy cat, pussy cat, what did you do there?
I frightened a little mouse under her chair.
Simple enough, right? But really, when you dig deeper at the specific language used, there is much going on, which is usually the case with these tight, compact offerings.
Here, we see a pussy cat who is not where they are supposed to be. They’ve left their normal surroundings, causing the speaker to wonder where they went and why they’ve been off for so long. Then we learn that the cat went—of all places—to visit royalty. The Queen! How daring, how unbelievable, right?
It’s only natural to wonder, then, just what the cat protagonist was doing. Well, as it turns out, she was doing a job. Whether beckoned for this task or not, the cat provided the service. For no queen wants mice in her chamber, so the cat, however they got into the room, scared the mouse and, we can assume, destroyed it or at least got it out of the queen’s chamber.
Final Thoughts
In the end, this nursery rhyme does a lot in a very little space. But most of all it indicates social divisions and, at the same time, why those divisions shouldn’t be set in stone. Perhaps the cat didn’t belong there, but in the end they were able to provide a valuable service to the Queen, who some say was Elizabeth I and others say was Caroline of Brunswick, wasn’t about to get the mouse herself.
So, for this rhyme, which was first published (that we know of) in 1805 in Songs for the Nursery, children learn that they are valuable even in places they may be surprised to end up. In the end, the final lesson is to just be yourself and let your talents be your guide.
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