Help with history of a nursery rhyme

[Sara Johns <johns@NORTHNET.ORG>]

Good morning. Happy Friday!

I have a request from a first year teacher who thinks our library is her salvation. 
I, of course, want to keep that attitude going so I'm looking for some help.

Her class is reading _Cuckoo's Nest_ and she found the Mother Goose rhyme that 
inspired the title and would like to know the story behind the rhyme. Since so many 
of them were really political satire, she suspects that there's a story here. We 
found the rebus for the rhyme, but her seniors don't need to color it ;-). We found 
a reference to the _Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes_ as a potential source for 
the answer, but it's not in our Middle/Senior High collection. So, I'm looking for 
some help and hope someone has the answer. The rhyme?

Vintery, mintery, cutery, corn,
Apple seed and apple thorn;
Wire, briar, limber lock,
Three geese in a flock.
One flew east,
And one flew west,
And one flew over the cuckoo's nest.

Thanks so much, Sara J

* * * * * *
Sara Kelly Johns
Library Media Specialist
Lake Placid Middle/High School
250 Main Street
Lake Placid, NY 12946
518-523-2474, ext. 4132
FAX: 518-523-4861
johns@northnet.org

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