It never occurred to me until I was an adult that "Hey Diddle Diddle" was a nonsense rhyme. As a child, I loved the image of the cow jumping over the moon to the serenading of a stray tabby, playing the fiddle down below. Even the dog is part of the moment, the dog the cat, the cow, the moon, all existing together on some quiet, open slope of land in farm country. But the rhyme sort of fell apart for me after that. I dismissed the latter half, with its dish and spoon, I think because it interrupted the soothing rhythm of what came before.

What's so interesting to me now is that my feelings about the rhyme haven't really changed. I still find the first three lines very romantic and calming. But this dish and spoon, who are they? Like the cat, the cow, the dog and even the moon, most illustrations of this rhyme give the dish and the spoon anthropomorphic qualities, depicting them as a couple, running away together. One theory about these two characters (on which I can find no corroboration) is that the dish and the spoon represent members of Queen Elizabeth's royal court - the serving maid and the royal taster. It's doubtful, at best, that this was the case, but I love to consider the truths that might exist behind the telling of these seemingly nonsensical rhymes. One can almost hear one reader saying to the other, "Now this is just how rumors get started."

The word diddle actually has several meanings, including to cheat or swindle, and, a more informal definition, to move rapidly up and down, backward or forward. This latter definition, which is probably more recent, goes well with the image of the cat playing its fiddle, as the bow would move rapidly back and forth across the instrument. The former definition is useful in interpreting the dog's laughter, which I've always felt was in response to some kind of mischief-making.

One of my favorite illustrations of the rhyme is Tomie de Paola's depiction of a slumber party. Here, the nonsense makes perfect sense. The dish and the spoon are actually a dish and a spoon and the boy jumping over the bed is wearing pajamas that feature the pattern of a cow jumping over the moon. This interpretation of the rhyme is perfect, in my opinion, for two reasons: First, the illustration actually makes the rhyme appear logical. The rhyme makes sense because children, having entered their own imaginary world through play, are making the rhyme real. Secondly, the other representations of the rhyme in the illustration, like the pajamas, show just how deeply ingrained in our culture nursery rhymes have become. By placing this representation so obviously in the middle of the illustration, de Paola is making a statement about the placement of these rhymes in our culture; an opinion which we are clearly echoing in our discussions here.