There was a Crooked Man

About the Rhyme

This rhyme, ‘There was a Crooked Man’, gained popularity in the twentieth century, but it was already recorded in the 1840s by James Orchard Halliwell. The Scottish General, Sir Alexander Leslie is said to be the character portrayed as the crooked man in the rhyme. Sir Leslie signed a treaty that secured the religious and political freedom rights for Scotland. The reference of the crooked stile in the poem points to the border between Scotland and England. The English and the Scots had finally come to an agreement even though they were still in hostile terms with each other.

The line, ‘they lived together in a little crooked house’ refers to this fact that they lived with each other owing to their common border.

There was a Crooked Man

There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile.
He found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile.
He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together in a little crooked house.

More about ‘There was a Crooked Man’

There Was a Crooked Man is a nursery rhyme with a strange twist of thought. It discusses a bent member of the bent house, whose cat, mouse and other crooked creatures were crooked. The rhyme is composed in a repetitive and colorful way in order to make children creative, and at the same time form vocabulary. Its ludicrous sound causes children to laugh, and its rhythm encourages memorizing and listening. It may once have had a kind of symbolic basis in the politics of England, but to children it is no more than an amusing legend-song. Parents and teachers are more likely to mix it with drawing or elaborations of stories and make children think creatively. It is a rhyme which celebrates imaginations and narration but with the merits of language development.

FAQs about "There was a Crooked Man"

1. About What is There Was a Crooked Man?
Evil man and his evil life with its quainties.

2. Why do kids like it?
It is comic because of its pedantic and dreamy descriptions.

3. What does it teach?
Vocabulary, imagination and narration.

4. What age group enjoys it most?
Ages 3-7.

5. Is it educational too?
Oh, it creates fiction and language.