“The Fly and the Bumblebee (Fiddle-Dee-Dee)”

Description

"Fiddle-dee-dee, fiddle-dee-dee, The fly has married the bumblebee, Says the fly, says he, 'Will you marry me, and live with me, sweet Bumblebee?'" The fly promises not to sting the larger insect. Parson Beetle marries the two. All ends happily

Notes

In the Mother Goose "cat came fiddling" texts, it is not a fly but a mouse that marries the bumblebee. It's not clear which combination is more original -- the wedding of two insects is less utterly illogical, so it might be an improvement, but the mouse might also come in by way of confusion with "Frog Went A-Courting" or the like. - RBW

Cross references

• cf. "Frog Went A-Courting" (theme)

References

1. Linscott, pp. 196-198, "Fiddle Dee Dee" (1 text, 1 tune)
2. Opie-Oxford2 88, "A cat came fiddling out of a barn" (2 texts); 168, "Fiddle-de-dee, fiddle-de-dee" (2 texts)
3. Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #179, pp. 128-129, "(A cat came fiddling out of a barn)"; #276, p. 164, "(Fiddle-dee-dee, fiddle-dee-dee)"
4. Roud #3731
5. BI, Lins196