The Cat and Fiddle Book: Eight Dramatised Nursery Rhymes for Nursery Performers

In Short

Designed as a resource for "nursery performers," this book dramatizes classic rhymes like "Little Miss Muffet" and "Humpty Dumpty" into brief, interactive scripts. Each play expands the original verse into a comedic scene, complete with simple dialogue and stage directions for children. Because the stories are built upon universally known rhymes and rely on clear, repetitive patterns, they remain accessible and easy to stage today. The book serves as a charming time capsule of early 20th-century childhood play, emphasizing the joy of performance over the pressures of complex production.

The Story

The collection begins with the inhabitants of Mrs. Moocow’s Boarding House in The Cat and the Fiddle. The Cow and the Dog, tired of the Cat’s incessant fiddling and vanity, stage an intervention. When the Cat bets that the Cow cannot jump over the moon, the Dog ensures the moon is positioned low enough on the horizon for the Cow to succeed, causing the Cat to pack her bags in defeat.

In Lucy Locket, the titular character struggles with her mother’s demands for tidiness, constantly losing her belongings. When she loses her pocket—containing two pennies—her cousin Kitty Fisher "finds" it but keeps it for herself. The conflict forces the girls to reconcile their differing personalities, ultimately ending with a lesson on honesty and the promise of a fresh start.

Polly Put the Kettle On follows a chaotic tea party. Poor Polly, tasked with playing maid, confuses the instructions for making tea, filling the kettle with tea leaves instead of water. When the guests arrive, they are treated to an empty, black-liquid disaster, leading to a hasty departure for everyone except the apologetic Sukey.

Goosey-Gander moves to the farm, where a Gander and a Drake lament the loss of their favorite puddle, which the Bailiff has filled in. After the birds attack the Bailiff, he complains to the Countess, who—preferring the birds to the pompous man—orders the Bailiff to apologize to the Gander on his knees. He refuses and leaves, defeated.

Oranges and Lemons sees young Kitty selling fruit on Bellringers' Day. She is joined by a chorus of boys representing various parish bells, who engage in a comedic squabble over debts and "when they will be rich." The play culminates in the ominous but high-spirited rhyme about the "chopper," turning a neighborhood conflict into a rhythmic, noisy celebration.

Ride a Cock-horse transitions from reality to fantasy. Two boys in bed, bored and reading, fall asleep and dream of the fine lady of Banbury Cross. They join a procession of children and hobby-horse riders in a series of "revels" and competitions, only to wake up when their nurse discovers them reading after hours.

Finally, Little Miss Muffet and Humpty Dumpty offer character-driven humor. Miss Muffet, terrified of spiders, faces her fears when one arrives on her tuffet, while Humpty Dumpty, having fallen from his wall, mocks the King’s men who arrive to "fix" him, ultimately choosing to stand up only when he decides the time is right.

How It Unfolds

The Cat and the Fiddle The Cow and Dog express their grievances about their vain, noisy lodger. The conflict escalates into a high-stakes bet involving a jump over a cardboard moon, resulting in the Cat’s departure.

Lucy Locket Lucy’s struggle to remain organized leads to the loss of her pocket and a clash with her judgmental cousin. The tension resolves through a promise of improvement, though the rivalry between the two girls remains unresolved.

Polly Put the Kettle On The preparation for the party highlights the domestic incompetence of the stand-in maid. The guests’ arrival creates a comic peak as they realize the tea is undrinkable, causing them to abandon the hostess.

Goosey-Gander The birds identify the Bailiff as the villain who destroyed their puddle. The drama shifts to the castle, where the Countess’s authority humbles the human antagonist in favor of the animals.

Oranges and Lemons The play begins with a simple transaction and grows into a neighborhood gathering. The boys’ bickering over farthings provides a rhythmic, bell-ringing climax that settles into a communal song.

Ride a Cock-horse The narrative moves from the quiet of the bedroom to the bustling energy of a dream-world marketplace. The dream cycle completes as the boys return to the waking world, slightly more tired but entertained.

Little Miss Muffet A lesson in reading turns into an exploration of phobias, culminating in the spider's arrival. The nurse’s intervention forces the spider back into hiding, protecting the child.

Humpty Dumpty Humpty’s fall sets up a satire of authority, as the military fails to assist him. The play ends on his own terms, highlighting his independence from the adults around him.

The People

The Cow, Dog, and Cat serve as the archetypal boarding-house residents, with the Cow and Dog representing the desire for peace and the Cat embodying the disruptive, vain artist. Lucy Locket is a relatable, disorganized child, contrasted sharply with her cousin Kitty Fisher, who represents the "good" child whose morality is performative and smug. Polly is a well-meaning but confused maid whose small stature and mistakes drive the humor of her play, while Sukey serves as the competent professional who returns too late. The Gander and The Drake are surprisingly eloquent birds with a chip on their shoulder, standing up to the Bailiff, who is presented as a pompous, bureaucratic figure. Humpty Dumpty is perhaps the most self-aware character, refusing to be a victim of his fall and finding humor in the frustration of the Colonel and his soldiers.

In Its Own Voice

"Do you like the cat?"

The Cow initiates a conversation with the Dog about their troublesome housemate, establishing the domestic tension at the start of the play.

"I always think it's so much nicer to pretend."

Miss Muffet reveals her imaginative nature while asking the nurse to play along with her desert-island game.

"Stupid! Not he--he's got too much sense to go falling off a wall just when a procession was coming."

Humpty Dumpty retorts to his neighbor after the soldiers fail to rescue him from his fall.

What It's Really About

The central theme is the subversion of authority and the assertion of individual agency within the bounds of a nursery setting. Whether it is the Gander mocking the Bailiff, or Humpty Dumpty controlling the King's men, the book frequently allows the small and the "silly" to triumph over the conventional or the pompous. It also explores the tension between adult expectations—tidiness, competence, duty—and the child’s preference for excitement, play, and imaginative freedom. The plays argue that the "nursery" is not merely a place of instruction, but a stage where the rigid rules of the adult world can be gently tested, laughed at, and ultimately rewritten.

Why Read It Today

Readers who love theatrical history or are looking for simple, charming scripts for children will find this book a delight. It captures a specific, warm, and playful era of childhood, where entertainment was homemade and rooted in the rhythm of nursery rhymes. The language is clean and direct, though it retains the polite, occasionally stern, and formal tone of the early 1900s.

Modern readers might notice the period-specific attitudes—such as the nurse’s condescending endearments or the characters' casual class distinctions—which provide a distinct look into the social expectations of the time. While the humor is gentle and sometimes simple, the plays remain incredibly effective because they understand that children love to see the world turned upside down. The book is best enjoyed as a collaborative experience; it is not meant for silent reading in a chair, but for being brought to life with a group of friends. Even if you never perform them, the dialogue has a rhythmic, musical quality that makes the familiar rhymes feel fresh. It is a testament to the idea that classic stories are best kept alive by being acted out, rather than just read.