Come, Butter, Come
"Any one who has ever used a dash churn will have no difficulty in recognizing the rhythmic activity which gave the impulse to this rhyme, which, no doubt, originally was accompanied with song..." -Katharine Elizabeth Dopp
Come, Butter, Come
Nursery Charm
Come, butter, come;
Come, butter, come,
Peter stands at the gate
Waiting for his buttered cake;
Come, butter, come.
Notes
Quote at top from Katharine Elizabeth Dopp, The Place of Industries in Elementary Education
(1902)
Percy B. Green called this an "Essex Charm for a Churn, 1650 A.D." in his book "A History of Nursery Rhymes" (published in 1899).
*****
Here's another version of this rhyme from Cole's Funny Picture Book No. 1, written and compiled by Edward William Cole (1st Published in 1879 in Melbourne, Australia):
Churn, Butter, Churn!
Churn, butter, churn! come, butter, come!
Peter stands at the gate,
Waiting for a butter cake;
Come, butter, come!
