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Hi, Rusty!
Maybe it was the dish , Rusty?

"Hey diddle diddle,
The Cat and the Fiddle,
The Cow jumped over the Moon,
The little dog laughed to see such fun,
And the Dish ran away with the Spoon."

Anyway, it sounds like you drove a good bargain!
Where shall you hang your new picture?
I may have to venture outdoors to investigate this filming!

Hello, Elle!
I think in my experience it is "the fork ran away with the spoon".
No hard bargaining, just a bit of friendly bantering, and the ladies were pleased to help me.
And I helped them and PDSA.
So, all round, good result!
My print, I think, will replace one I have of Don Quixote and Sancha Panza.
Don Quixote has the gloomiest face I have ever seen and he is getting punted!
I think you should go and find out about the filming?
You won't sleep otherwise!

Hi, Rusty!
I well remember my children's nursery rhyme books, and the rhyme about "Hey , diddle, diddle" was illustrated right across the page....... the dish had arms and legs, and was scampering away clutching the spoon!
But this isn't the first time that I have come across nursery rhyme variants according to region.
I was shocked when moving down here to find that some of the "rhymes" didn't in fact "rhyme" at all!
Anyway, dish or fork........there is obviously a thief about!
The filming is taking place at the bottom of the street...it is extremely cold....and I still haven't really eaten anything since Friday.
Perhaps not a good idea to brave the elements.......
I shall await a report from my next visitor!

The earliest recorded version of the poem resembling the modern form was printed around 1765 in London in Mother Goose's Melody with the lyrics:

Hey diddle diddle,
The Cat and the Fiddle,
The Cow jump'd over the Moon,
The little dog laugh'd to see such Craft,
And the Fork ran away with the Spoon

PS All the modern images on google show it was the Dish !

Totally regardless of origin, nursery rhymes do seem to vary with regions.
I was surprised, on coming to London, to find a variant with "Ding, Dong Bell"
Up north, we learnt
"Who put him in?
Little Tommy Thin.
Who pulled him out?
Little Tommy Stout.
Here.... "Little Tommy Thin" appears to have become "Little Johnny Green"??!
And of course there is the other non rhyming variant to "Hickory, Dickory Dock"
My version goes "The clock struck one....... the mouse was gone"
Hey presto, it rhymes!
But Southerners appear to say "The clock struck one , the mouse ran down...."
Oh yeah?

Cerasus, I have plenty of dishes!
It is my "forks and spoons" which keep vanishing!

We crossed, Rusty, but I just added a comment or two to my earlier post!

Hello, Elle,
I thought the mouse "ran down" too, but I give way to your superior knowledge of nursery rhymes!
And, originally I was not referring to a regional difference in nursery rhymes, but my own personal experiences of "disappearing forks and spoons"!
Anyway, just you keep educating the "Southerners"!

Hi, Rusty!
But no, I am not saying that "my" version is correct........not at all!
Cerasus had kindly just provided proof that the original nursery rhyme did say "fork"!
I am quite happy to accept this......
I am just saying how great a difference there can be according to where one lives.
I think we need a wider range of viewpoints on this!
I wonder if Mamya learnt the same versions, as I did - or whether there was even a difference within local areas?
My cousin - in Blackburn - knows my versions...but it would be interesting to know, if Chris is by any chance reading this, whether he and Alison agree?
I am somewhat surprised, though, Rusty, that further north, your versions are more similar to down here?
I must remember to ask the Kirkintilloch contingent for their versions!
(Small things amuse small minds! I'm bored by enforced captivity!)