PETER,PETER, PUMPKIN EATER

Most Common Version of the Mother Goose Rhyme

Peter, Peter pumpkin eater,

Had a wife but couldn't keep her;

He put her in a pumpkin shell

And there he kept her very well.

Peter, Peter pumpkin eater,

Had another and didn't love her;

Peter learned to read and spell,

And then he loved her very well.

The first published version of this rhyme appears in Mother Goose's Quarto (Melodies Complete) in Boston. The year of publication is 1825.  Another version  was published in Scotland about 1868.

This version is:

Peter, my neeper,

Had a wife,

And he coudna' keep her,

He pat her i' the wa',

And lat a' the mice eat her.

He pat her i' the wa',

And lat a' the mice eat her.

Although this Scottish version is not as old as the American verse, it might be older. The inclusion of a pumpkin in the rhyme is American as the pumpkin was

not a known food in Europe at the time, and therefore would not be familiar to

British/Europeans.