Simple Simon Met a Pieman

Complete Version

Simple Simon met a pieman,
Going to the fair;
Said Simple Simon to the pieman,
“Let me taste your ware.”

Said the pieman to Simple Simon,
“Show me first your penny;”
Said Simple Simon to the pieman,
“Sir, I haven’t any.”

Simple Simon went a-fishing,
For to catch a whale;
All the water he had got,
Was in his mother’s pail.

Simple Simon went to look
If plums grew on a thistle;
He pricked his fingers very much,
Which made poor Simon whistle.

He went to catch a dicky bird,
And thought he could not fail,
Because he had got a little salt,
To put upon its tail.

Simple Simon went to sea
In a sieve to sail;
The water soon ran through the sides,
And Simon’s ship did fail.

He went to take a horse’s feed,
But thought it was some corn;
He put it in his little mouth,
And soon he blew his horn.

He tried to milk a he-goat,
But it was all in vain;
The goat kicked up its little heels,
And Simon tumbled again.

Simple Simon tried to ride,
An old horse to the fair;
He set the saddle on his head,
And rode off unaware.

He went for water in a sieve,
But soon it all fell through;
And now poor Simple Simon
Bids you all adieu!

Simple Simon is one of those nursery rhymes just about everyone has heard. It starts with a daft little meeting between Simon and a pieman at the fair, but it didn’t stop there. Over time, it stretched into a string of ridiculous episodes, making it one of the longer, busier rhymes in the old collections.

Today the rhyme is usually cut down to just the opening exchange with the pieman, sometimes followed by a second verse — but in the 18th and 19th centuries it ran much longer. Printers and editors kept adding scenes, showing Simon in one doomed attempt after another: fishing in a pail, sailing off in a sieve, or trying to catch a bird with a pinch of salt.

Origins

The rhyme’s been around since the 1760s. It first popped up in Tommy Thumb’s Pretty Song Book and later showed its face in Joseph Ritson’s Gammer Gurton’s Garland (1782). And it was never just one neat little verse. Printers, editors, and illustrators kept tacking on new bits, all adding their own silly scenes. Each one made Simon look a little more foolish. By the Victorian era, it wasn’t a short rhyme anymore but a whole string of goofy episodes strung together.

Meaning

“Simple” here doesn’t mean kind or gentle. It means gullible, silly, or just lacking sense. Simon is the fool who never learns.

• The pieman stanza makes the point neatly: Simon wants a taste but has no penny.

• Later verses push the joke into absurdity — fishing in a pail, sailing in a sieve.

• The moral, if you can call it one, is simply “don’t be like Simon.” Children laughed at his foolishness and maybe picked up a quiet lesson about common sense.

By the nineteenth century, “Simple Simon” had also become a nickname for anyone easily duped.

Cultural Background

The rhyme’s imagery came straight out of daily life: street piemen selling hot pies, noisy fairs, birds in the hedges, makeshift fishing. Children knew these scenes well and then laughed at Simon’s knack for failing at the obvious.

Illustrators especially loved the rhyme. From the mid-1800s onward, picture books often showed Simon as a lanky, daft-looking fellow in oversized clothes, while the pieman looked brisk and businesslike.

The rhyme stayed popular into the twentieth century, and even now “Simple Simon” is still a phrase for someone naive or silly, long after most of the added verses have faded from memory.

Legacy

Simple Simon stands out among nursery rhymes for two reasons: it grew into a miniature cycle of adventures, and it turned into a living nickname in English. Short, funny, and a little cruel — just enough to stick in the mind.