PC Pat-a-Cake The text variation is more significant
On the Bank An emotional and charming picture
Father and Child From hustle to clapping hands
in joyous rhyming
Playing with Kitty A cat joins the game
In the Kitchen Observing the baker
Strange Kitchen Strange baker
Unlike most Mother Goose rhymes, that have hidden political meanings
or are making a social commentary, this simple rhyme was truly created
for children. Its purpose, from its creation was infant amusement. However,
there is some background information to this ditty that may be of interest.
A “Patty cake” or “pat-a-cake” is a small cake
made with currants. “Baker’s man” could be pronounced
“Beker’s man,” which is an Old Saxon word for priest.
The “Mark it with a T” could then be seen as making the
sign of the cross over the cake, as if blessing it. “Pat-a-Cake”
probably first appeared in Thomas Durfey’s The Campaigners,
which was written in 1698. In The Campaigners, the nanny
is heard singing the rhyme to the child she is tending. It was not until
later publications that it was expressed as the hand game we know today.
Additional Comments in Relation to the Variations of Text
In the Nurse Lovechild version, “pricket” means to “puncture
the cake with little holes in an ornamental fashion.” It must
be an obsolete word. This is not a significant difference and is only
of interest because it is a word, very specific to baking, that is not
in contemporary use.
Oliver Goldsmith, a popular English poet, novelist, and dramatist added
the maxim in the third variation for John Newbery’s Mother Goose
Melody. It must be an attempt at being humorous, but the humor may be
lost for modern readers.
Bornstein, Harry. Nursery Rhymes from Mother Goose. Washington,
D.C.: Galludet University Press, 1992.
Father Gander Nursery Rhymes: The Equal Rhymes Amendment.
Santa Barbara, CA: Advocacy Press, 1985.
Janovitz, Marilyn. Pat-a-Cake. Hyperion Books for Children: New York. 1992.
