There Was a Crooked Man

"There Was a Crooked Man" is an English nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 1826. Origin The rhyme was first recorded in print by James Orchard Halliwell in 1842: There was a crooked man and he went a crooked mile, He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile; He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse, And they all liv'd together in a little crooked house. It gained popularity in the early twentieth century. One legend suggests that this nursery rhyme originated in the once prosperous wool merchant's village of Lavenham, about 70 miles northeast of London, having been inspired by its multicolored half-timbered houses leaning at irregular angles as if they are supporting each other. One Lavenham house in particular, 'The Crooked House' is often cited as the inspiration for the rhyme.