The little nut‑tree
Language: English
Available translation(s): DUT
I had a little nut-tree, [Nothing]1 would it bear But a silver nutmeg And a golden pear; The King of Spain's daughter [Came]2 to visit me, And all for the sake Of my little nut-tree. Her dress was made of crimson, Jet black was her hair, She asked me for my nutmeg And my golden pear. I said, "So fair a princess Never did I see, I'll give you all the fruit From my little nut tree." [I danced o'er the water, I danced o'er the sea, And all the birds in the air Couldn't catch me.]3
G. Bush sets stanzas 1-2
Confirmed with Oxford Nursery Rhyme Book, 1955.
1 Bush, Real: "And nothing"2 Bush: "She came"
3 Real:
I danced over the sea But all the birds of the air, They couldn’t catch me.
Authorship:
- from Volkslieder (Folksongs) , written <<1797 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Geoffrey Bush (1920 - 1998), "The little nut-tree", stanzas 1-2, from Songs of wonder, no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- DUT Dutch (Nederlands) (Lidy van Noordenburg) , "Ik had een notenboompje", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Lidy van Noordenburg
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 97