COCK ROBIN

'''Who Killed Cock Robin''' is a nursery rhyme beginning:
:''Who killed Cock Robin?''
:''I, said the Sparrow,''
:''with my bow and arrow,''
:''I killed Cock Robin.''
The rhyme has been often reprinted with illustrations, as suitable reading material for small children.

Contents

Origins

In popular culture

Notes

External links

Origins

The story has been connected with Robin Hood:
:"The Death of Cock Robin is frequently taken as a Robin Hood analogue and the ready offers of help following this event, as described in the lyrics, reflect the high esteem that the legendary figure of Robin Hood was, and is, still held."^[1]
There is, however, no direct indication in the text of the rhyme to support this claim beyond the simple similarity of name. Also, in the later Robin Hood tales, Robin Hood is killed by a nun who betrays and drains the outlaw's blood.
The story might as easily have been connected to the mysterious murder of William Rufus, king of England, the unpopular son of the Conqueror, found dead in the New Forest with an arrow piercing his lung.
The rhyme may be much later than the Robin Hood ballads. It has no Middle English version and first appears printed in the earliest known published collection of nursery rhymes, ''Tommy Thumb's (Pretty) Song Book'', 2 vol. (London, 1744), which also included "Little Tom Tucker" and "Sing a Song of Sixpence". "Robin" is a pet name for Robert. The publication date closely follows the spectacular political fall and resignation of the often-satirised^[2] Sir Robert Walpole, George II's first minister, in February 1742, so it may have had a satirical subtext at that time.^[3] The minister had been in power since 1721, at first as First Lord of the Treasury, and had time to build a powerful clique of enemies.
The question of origins is always difficult with folk material however. Early texts are rare, original authors of the material are never traceable, and conventional historical tracing of texts may mislead where material was never written down until the coming of collectors. Scholars rightly draw attention to the possible connection with Sir Robert Walpole, however political use of established songs is common, while out-and-out political broadsides rarely survive very long. There may also be other possible analyses of the text of the song, for instance Cock Robin suggests a ritual death not unlike that in the performance of 'The Cutty Wren' recorded by professional folklorists in early twentieth century England ^[4] Though not even a passing mention of the phrase "Cock Robin" has been traced before 1744, the origins of "Who killed Cock Robin?" remain unsettled.

In popular culture

The best-selling mystery novel of 1928, The Bishop Murder Case featuring detective Philo Vance, used this poem in the form of an anonymous note which accompanied the murder of a Christopher Robbin, who was found pierced by an arrow. Further murders are accompanied by further references to Mother Goose rhymes such as Little Miss Muffet. This novel is significant in literary terms because it is the first time that a mystery novel is organized around a formal scheme like the way in which the series of nursery rhymes links a series of murders, and this format was duplicated many times in the genre afterwards (for instance, by Agatha Christie).
Cock Robin is mentioned in passing in the Rat Pack film ''Robin and the Seven Hoods'' (1964), which adapted Robin Hood to a 30's gangster setting.
Cock Robin was featured in the Fables comic series, and was killed by a fellow bird Fable, which said "Cock Robin is dead".
An episode of the popular crime thriller series Midsomer Murders was entitled "Who Killed Cock Robin?". In it, a man named Robin's decayed remains are pulled from a well.
"Who Killed Cock Robin?" was a 1935 animated Walt Disney short subject.^[5]
A clip from the Disney short appears near the end of Alfred Hitchcock's ''Sabotage'' (1936), at the point where Mrs. Verloc (Sylvia Sidney) ducks momentarily into the Verloc family movie theater as the cartoon is playing. She has just discovered that her husband, a saboteur, is responsible for the death of her young brother, who unwittingly carried a bomb within his daily delivery of film reels.
A Japanese version of the poem serves as the theme song for the 1970's anime Patariro.
''Who Killed Cock Robin: An Ecological Mystery'' by Jean Craighead George was a 1971 young adult book dealing with the subject of environmental pollution.
The first few lines of "Who Killed Cock Robin" are recited by a young boy at the beginning of My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult's "Do You Fear for your Child", presumably sampled from a B-movie.
In the Three Stooges short "Disorder In The Court" Moe makes reference to this poem when he says, "Who killed Kurt Robin? I killed Kurt Robin and not with my little and arrow!"
In the video game ''Silent Hill 3'', a puzzle in the hospital crematory room is based on the poem.
In ''The Cain Saga'' volume 2, "Who Killed Cock Robin?" was used as a plot to one of the side-stories.
In episode 75 of Urusei Yatsura (also known as Lum, Lamu, and Those Obnoxious Aliens) the song was used as a foreshadowing and a signal that someone would die, or somone did die. 11 characters arrived and 10 of them died, each holding the object in the rhyme.

Notes

1. [1]
2. John Gay's farcical ''Beggar's Opera'' is the best-known example.
3. ''Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes''.
4. R.J.Stewart, ''Where is St. George? Pagan Imagery in English Folksong'' (1976)
5. The Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts

External links

★ Text

★ Death and Burial of Poor Cock Robin, by H. L. Stephens, from Project Gutenberg