Reading Notes: Week 12, Part B (Nursery Rhymes: Accumulative Stories)

This was a nursery rhyme that built up on itself, kind of like a repeating story that has one new element ti it each time. The story is called "This is the House that Jack Built."

It starts out by simply saying that this is the house that Jack built. The next addition is saying that this is the malt that lay in the house that Jack built. Next is an introduction of a rat that ate the malt. Then the introduction of the cat that ate the rat that ate the malt. Then there's the dog that worried the cat. After that there was a cow with a crumpled horn that tossed the dog that worried the cat. Then there is a maiden who milked the cow that tossed the dog. After that there is a man who was beaten up who kissed the maiden that milked the cow with the crumpled horn. Then there is a priest who was all clean shaven and nice who married the man that kissed the maiden. Then there was a rooster who woke up the priest who married the man who kissed the maiden that milked the cow. Finally, there was a farmer who kept the rooster that woke up the priest that married the man who kissed the maiden who milked the cow that tossed the dog that worried the cat who killed the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.

I have never heard of this nursery rhyme before and I have never read an accumulative story like this before until now, I think it would be really fun to build out a story like this for a story one week! It would be a challenge to start somewhere and make it end in a logical, cohesive manner, but I'm always looking for a writing challenge!

Picture of a nursery

(Taken by Eugenivy Now on Unsplash)

"Nursery Rhymes: Accumulative Stories," The Nursery Rhyme Book edited by Andrew Lang and illustrated by L. Leslie Brooke