Simple Simon

Simple Simon with the Pie Man - William Denslow 1902

The answer to another trivia question was Simple Simon. My daughter had never heard of him. How can that be? Have I failed to properly educate my kids? This is a catastrophe.

Just in case you too have never heard of this nursery rhyme, here it is in all its lyrical glory, courtesy of Wikipedia:

Simple Simon met a pieman,
Going to the fair;
Says Simple Simon to the pieman,
Let me taste your ware.
Says the pieman to Simple Simon,
Show me first your penny;
Says Simple Simon to the pieman,
Indeed I have not any.
Simple Simon went a-fishing,
For to catch a whale;
All the water he had got,
Was in his mother's pail.
Simple Simon went to look
If plums grew on a thistle;
He pricked his fingers very much,
Which made poor Simon whistle.
He went for water in a sieve
But soon it all fell through
And now poor Simple Simon
Bids you all adieu!

Simple Simon goes back at least to 1764.