I Had a Little Nut Tree

Courting Time – Care to Dance?

Most of the illustrations examined for this rhyme seem to picture a courtship, perhaps alluding to Juana the Mad of Castile’s arranged marriage to Philip the Handsome of Austria. The first illustration here, the only one from the 19 th century, pictures a rakish-looking young man whose body language indicates that he considers himself quite the ladies man. Both he and the young lady appear to be teenagers, matching the ages at which the historical couple met. The Haders’ 1930 image changes the interpretation by picturing the two primary characters as younger and with the boy obviously subservient to the girl. There are also a number of other characters included who are not mentioned in the rhyme. Tudor also pictures the characters as children with the boy bowing to the girl; but, in this case, one might assume that they are of equal status and that he is just asking her to dance.