A Cat Came Fiddling Out of a Barn Lyrics
A cat comes out of the barn carrying bagpipes, singing nonsense, and announcing a wedding between a mouse and a bumblebee. Everyone is invited to dance.
A Cat Came Fiddling Out of a Barn
A cat came fiddling out of a barn,
With a pair of bag-pipes under her arm;
She could sing nothing but fiddle cum fee,
The mouse has married the humble-bee;
Pipe, cat, dance, mouse,
We'll have a wedding at our good house.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/a-cat-came-fiddling-out-of-a-barn/
- Type
- Animal Rhymes
- Tune
- Sung or chanted
- Best for ages
- 2 to 7 years
What Does A Cat Came Fiddling Out of a Barn Mean?
This is a nonsense rhyme. The cat carries bagpipes, an instrument with a bag of air squeezed under the arm, but can only sing "fiddle cum fee". She brings strange news: the mouse has married the humble-bee, an old name for the bumblebee. Then she calls on everyone to celebrate: the cat pipes, the mouse dances.
History and Origin
James Orchard Halliwell printed the rhyme in The Nursery Rhymes of England. Animal weddings were a popular joke in old rhymes, and the humble-bee also gets married in Fiddle-de-dee, though there the groom is a fly.
Learning Activities
- Animal band: pretend to play bagpipes, a fiddle and a drum.
- Wedding dance: the cat pipes and the mouse dances: take turns being each.
- Bee watch: look for bumblebees in the garden and notice how fuzzy they are.