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Parrish, Maxfield - Sing a Song o' Sixpence
Identifier
029186
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
From the book he did with Frank Baum - Mother Goose in Prose - a collection of twenty-two children's stories based on Mother Goose nursery rhymes. It was the first children's book written by L. Frank Baum, and the first book illustrated by Maxfield Parrish. It was originally published in 1897 by Way and Williams of Chicago, and re-released by the George M. Hill Company in 1901.
Each tale begins with the nursery rhyme, and then a tale that illustrates the rhyme follows. It is interesting that the two chose Nursery Rhymes, as the majority are symbolic, originate in Europe [many from the UK], date back to well before the 1600s when they first started to appear in print, and were an attempt to preserve spiritual truths in memorable form
A description of the experience
Sing a Song o' Sixpence
Sing a song o' sixpence, a pocketful of rye,
Four-and-twenty blackbirds baked in a pie;
When the pie was opened the birds began to sing,
Wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the King?
