Wee Willie Winkie

"Wee Willie Winkie" is a Scottish nursery rhyme whose titular figure has become popular as a personification of sleep. The poem was written by William Miller and titled "Willie Winkie", first published in Whistle-binkie: Stories for the Fireside in 1841. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 13711. Lyrics Original text of 1841 in Scots, alongside a paraphrased English version (from 1844): Origins and meaning The poem was written by William Miller (1810–1872), first printed in Whistle-binkie: Stories for the Fireside in 1841 and re-printed in Whistle-Binkie; a Collection of Songs for the Social Circle published in 1873. In Jacobite songs Willie Winkie referred to King William III of England, one example being "The Last Will and Testament of Willie winkie" but it seems likely that Miller was simply using the name rather than writing a Jacobite satire.