# Little Miss Muffet

"Little Miss Muffet" is an English nursery rhyme in print since 1805, about a girl eating curds and whey until a spider frightens her off; the popular idea that she was a real doctor's daughter is unproven.

## At a glance

| | |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Sung in | English |
| Words by | Traditional |
| First known | 1805 |
| Best for ages | 2–7 |
| Mood | playful, traditional |
| Page | https://littlesongbook.com/songs/little-miss-muffet/ |

## Lyrics

### Verse 1 (en)

Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey.
Along came a spider,
Who sat down beside her,
And frightened Miss Muffet away.

## Common questions

**What is a "tuffet", and what are "curds and whey"?**

A tuffet was probably a little grassy mound or hillock to sit on (the idea that it means a footstool may actually have come from misreading this very rhyme). Curds and whey are what you get when milk separates — the soft lumps and the watery liquid — an old, plain sort of food a bit like cottage cheese.

**How old is the rhyme?**

It first appears in print in 1805, in "Songs for the Nursery", though the Opies thought it was probably older, since it is built just like other early rhymes such as "Little Jack Horner".

**Was Miss Muffet a real girl?**

There is a well-loved story that she was Patience, daughter of the Tudor doctor and insect-collector Thomas Muffet — which would neatly explain the spider. But he died around 1604, two hundred years before the rhyme appeared, and the scholars who studied it doubted the connection. Another guess links it to Mary, Queen of Scots. Neither can be shown to be true.

## Sources

- [Wikipedia — Little Miss Muffet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Miss_Muffet)
- https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4043040