I Had a Little Nut Tree

"I Had a Little Nut Tree" Roud #3749
Written by	Traditional
Published	1789
Written	England
Language	English
Form	Nursery rhyme

'I Had a Little Nut Tree' is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 3749.

Lyrics

The most common modern version is:

I had a little nut tree,
Nothing would it bear
But a silver nutmeg
And a golden pear;

The King of Spain's daughter
Came to visit me,
And all for the sake
Of my little nut tree.

Her dress was made of crimson,
Jet black was her hair,
She asked me for my nut tree
And my golden pear.

I said, "So fair a princess
Never did I see,
I'll give you all the fruit
From my little nut tree."^[1]

Origins and meaning

The first recorded instance of the rhyme is in Newest Christmas Box, printed in London in 1797. James Orchard Halliwell suggested that it was much older and commemorated Juana of Castile who visited the court of Henry VII in 1506, but did not provide any additional evidence to support the theory.^[1]

The characters in the nursery rhyme are believed to refer to the visit of the Royal House of Spain to King Henry VII's English court in 1506. The 'King of Spain's daughter' refers to the daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. There were two daughters, Princess Juana and her sister Catherine of Aragon. The princess in the nursery rhyme is probably Catherine of Aragon who was betrothed to Prince Arthur, the heir to the throne of England. Arthur died and Catherine eventually married King Henry VIII. It was sad that "So fair a princess" had such a difficult life with Henry as she was the first of Henry's six wives and discarded by the King to make way for Anne Boleyn. Queen Catherine was much loved by the British who were not fond of her replacement. The young, 'King of Spain's daughter' relates to the young Catherine as a princess, and is immortalised in this old nursery rhyme.

Additional Verses

Occasionally an extra verse is added:

"I danced o'er the water,
I danced o'er the sea,
And all the birds in the air,
Couldn't catch me"

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} I. Opie and P. Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), pp. 330-1.