Dame Trot and Her Cat Lyrics
An old woman and her cat living quietly together, sharing dinner from the same plate. It is one of the calmest rhymes in the nursery, and children who have pets understand it straight away.
Dame Trot and Her Cat
Dame Trot and her cat
Led a peaceable life,
When they were not troubled
With other folks' strife.
When Dame had her dinner
Pussy would wait,
And was sure to receive
A nice piece from her plate.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/dame-trot-and-her-cat/
- Type
- Animal Rhymes
- Tune
- Spoken rhyme
- Best for ages
- 2 to 7 years
What Does Dame Trot and Her Cat Mean?
Dame was a polite name for an older woman. Dame Trot and her cat keep out of other people's quarrels ("strife") and live a peaceable, or peaceful, life. When the dame sits down to dinner, the cat waits nearby and always gets a nice piece from her plate.
History and Origin
Dame Trot and her cat were favorite characters in small, cheap picture books called chapbooks in the early 1800s. In the longer stories the cat could do almost anything: dance, play the fiddle, even read the news. This short verse is from The Real Mother Goose (1916). It is a close cousin of Old Mother Hubbard, another old woman with a remarkable pet.
Learning Activities
- Pet care talk: discuss what pets should and should not eat from our plates.
- Draw the pair: Dame Trot at her table with the cat waiting politely.
- Clever cat stories: make up what Dame Trot's cat does when she is out.