Three Little Kittens

Feline History - A Morality Tale

G. Delmar indicates that the historical tracings of The Three Little Kittens have lead to Eliza Folen (1787-1860), an influential writer in the New England Unitarian Movement. This verse was published in her collection, New Nursery Songs for All Good Children published sometime around 1843. Folen herself has been said to describe this and other verses as “traditional” although some assume that The Three Little Kittens was an original verse written for her book. The verse, however, also appeared in 1843 in the Only True Mother Goose Melodies, and from then on it was found in other titles of Mother Goose lore. The Opie’s indicate that this tune has been described as a variant of “The Seven Joys of Mary.”

Depictions of the felines across the various versions examined range from very life-like to cartoonish. Portrayal of the gender of the kittens varies from none indicated (sometimes the kittens are unclothed), to the males and females, differentiated by articles of clothing. Often the three kittens are portrayed as two of one sex and one of the opposite sex. The mother cat is clad in a apron in every version in which she is depicted with the exception of the portrayal in Cats by Mother Goose by B. Lucas in which she is just wearing a dress.

Two extremely different renditions exist of the verse. One is the short text version ending with “then you shall have no pie,” and the long text ending with the appearance of a rat. Books containing the extra verses depict the rat in illustrations. A pie is a constant image, shown uneaten, served, or being devoured. Many versions show the missing mittens somewhere in the illustration as a possible visual joke. The action may be shown in the winter or in warm weather, in indoor or outdoor settings.

The mysterious question of why the kittens are often asked by their mother to “put on your mittens so you can eat some pie” remains, Most versions that contain the extra verses give the kittens an opportunity to redeem themselves and to wash the soiled mittens. The rat that appears in these versions seems to be an ominous symbol of danger, a warning to children to beware. This is in keeping with the general “morality tale” sensibility of the need for the kittens to be “good” in order to ear their pie.