Jack and Jill

☞ Public‐domain characters. Traditional. First appearance in print, Mother Goose’s Melody: or, Sonnets for the Cradle, 1772.

Jack and Jill or Jack and Gill are, by most accounts, an accident‐prone 18th‐century English boy and girl (although some sources portray them as two boys) who fall down while fetching a pailful of water, with accounts differing on the degree to which they are injured in the incident. For more than a century and a half thereafter, various texts have detailed numerous additional trips, scrapes and other mishaps, not to mention ill‐advised stunts that sometimes involve animals or automobiles, that paint a picture of them as not only clumsy but even reckless. A subset of works depict their eventually marrying one another, while another subset of the works assert that they instead are one another’s siblings.

Jack and Jill are nearly universally portrayed as a boy and a girl, or as a man and a woman, but two very early illustrations surprisingly depict them as two boys—the first being the woodcut illustrating their very first appearance in print in 1772 (Mother Goose’s Melody), and the other in the 1808 edition of Songs for the Nursery. Additionally, a 1914 text about two lads who go fishing together likens them to the original 18th‐century Jack and Jill, evidently assuming them to be two boys as well (“Jack and Jill Go Fishing”).

15th to 17th centuries. The 1872 book Jack and Jill compares Jack and Jill to Jack (or Jok) and Gillie who are attested in the Scots poem “Chriſts Kirk on the Green,” believed to have been written around 1500, but the association seems to be based on little evidence beyond their names and so should probably not be given much credence. Also, the 1567 play Iacke and Iyll is lost and so impossible to read, but that it would document the nursery‐rhyme and chapbook personages Jack and Jill of the 18th century seems highly unlikely.

Origin and relationship. Most sources portray Jack and Jill as unrelated to one another, many as sweethearts (Little Bo‐Peep and others), and a few as a married couple (Jack and Jill, 1872, and others). Some other sources, however, claim they are instead each other’s siblings (“Goose à la Mode” and others), with a few even stating they are twins (Boy Blue and His Friends and others). Chapbooks from the early 19th century indicate they both go home after their fall but yet wind up at the same location with Dame Gill, suggesting they live together or at least quite close by (Jack and Jill and Old Dame Gill and others).

The fall. Mother Goose’s Melody, published in 1772, first documents Jack and Gill ascending a hill for “a pail of water,” but then their falling down the hill in rapid succession. Gammer Gurton’s Garland states they instead sought “a bottle of water.” The source of the water is unspecified, but by 1806, illustrations clearly document that the hill has a well thereon (Jack and Jill and Old Dame Gill and others). The extent of their injuries is not entirely clear, but Jack is said to have “broke his crown” or “crack’d his crown,” suggesting a skull fracture, although later evidence would seem to imply this to be an exaggeration. More than thirty years go by before any text describes the aftermath of their fall.

Although there are many variations of the original rhyme that go beyond the first stanza, they fall into two principal categories: one in which Jack is well enough to ambulate (“up Jack got and home did trot”) and one in which the two suffer much more serious injury (“Jack and Jill were dying”).

(Jack Sprat Jr. and Jill Pumpkineater Sprat) (twins living atop a hill next door to the Halls, falling unharmed when returning to play with Tommy Tucker)

Developments. In 1772 if not earlier, Jack and Gill ascend a hill together but then fall and injure themselves (“Jack and Gill”).

Sections: Further misadventures, Children in the moon.

• • “Chriſts Kirk on the Green” or “Chryſts‐Kirk of the Grene,” stanzas 3–4, ca. 1500, Maitland Manuscripts and Bannatyne Manuscript, first printed on broadsides. Reprinted in The Ever Green, Being a Selection of Scots Poems, Wrote by the Ingenious Before 1600, vol. 1, 1724. About the relationship between Jok and Gillie. (Internet Archive)

  • Iacke and Iyll, Jacke and Jyll or Jack and Jill (lost play), 1567. (mention, 1912, HathiTrust) (mention, 1933, Internet Archive) (mention, 1933, HathiTrust) (FSL)

  • “Jack and Jill” and “Upon Jack and Jill,” by Robert Herrick, Heſperides: or, The Works Both Humane & Divine of Robert Herrick, Eſq., 1648, reprinted in The Works of Robert Herrick, vol. 1, 1823. (HathiTrust)

  • “Jack and Jill” or “Jack and Gill” (nursery rhyme), Roud 10266, 1772 or earlier.

    • Mother Goose’s Melody: or, Sonnets for the Cradle …, compiled by John Newbery, [1772]. (ca. 1785, Internet Archive) (ca. 1785, HathiTrust) (1791, Internet Archive) (1791, HathiTrust) (1794, HathiTrust)

    • Gammer Gurton’s Garland: or, The Nursery Parnassus; A Choice Collection of Pretty Songs and Verses, for the Amusement of All Little Good Children Who Can Neither Read nor Run, part 2, collected by Joseph Ritson, 1784. (HathiTrust) (Internet Archive)

    • “Jack and Jill Went up the Hill” (musical setting), ca. 1790.

    • Songs for the Nursery Collected from the Works of the Most Renowned Poets, [illustration by William Marshall Craig,] 1805. (1808, Internet Archive)

    • Vocal Harmony, or No Song, No Supper, ca. 1806.

    • Sugar Plum, ca. 1825.

    • Nurse Lovechild’s Ditties for the Nursery, ca. 1830.

    • The Nursery Rhymes of England, Collected Principally from Oral Tradition, collected by James Orchard Halliwell, 1842. (HathiTrust) (Internet Archive)

    • Mother Goose’s Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Songs, music by James William Elliott, [187‒?]. (Internet Archive)

    • Ancient Illuminated Rhymes: Jack and Jill, The Little Man and His Little Gun, music attributed to William Philip Nimmo, 1878. (Internet Archive)

    • Parodies, Book 2: Nursery Rhymes Re‐set for Voice and Piano, music by Herbert Hughes, 1921. (Internet Archive)

  • “John Anderson My Jo” (poem), by Robert Burns, 1789. Reprinted in The Works of Robert Burns; with an Account of His Life, and a Criticism on His Writings: To Which Are Prefixed, Some Observations on the Character and Condition of the Scottish Peasantry, vol. 4, 1800. John Anderson and his lover go down the hill but do something other than falling. (Internet Archive)

  • Jack and Jill (chapbook), ca. 1800.

    • Jack and Jill and Old Dame Gill: Read It Who Will, They’ll Laugh Their Fill, 1806. (Internet Archive)

    • Jack and Jill, and Old Dame Gill, 1810. (Internet Archive)

    • Jack & Jill, and Old Dame Gill: Read It Who Will They’ll Laugh Their Fill, 1840. (Internet Archive)

    • The History of Jack and Jill, and Old Dame Gill, 1860. (Internet Archive)

  • “Little Jane’s Talk,” by Lydia Maria Child, The Juvenile Miscellany, vol. 4, no. 2, May 1828. Earliest record I could find of “Jack and Jill were dying” variant. (HathiTrust)

    • Reprinted as “Little Jane,”Flowers for Children, part 2, 1844. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

    • “Jack and Jill: A Responsive Chorus,” music either by Philip Bliss or H. L. H., The Joy: A Collection of New and Carefully Selected Music for Classes, Choirs, and Conventions, 1873. (HathiTrust)

    • “Jack and Gill: Lengthened,” attributed to J. H. Hammond, Sparkles for Bright Eyes, ed. Thomas W. Handford, 1887. (U. Florida)

  • An Essay on the Archaiology of Popular English Phrases and Nursery Rhymes, by John Bellenden Ker Gawler, 1834. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • “Nursery Poetry,” Walks and Wanderings in the World of Literature, vol. 1, [by James Grant,] (Oct.) 1839. (HathiTrust)

  • The Adventures of Jack & Jill and Old Dame Jill, [184‒?]. (Internet Archive)

  • Harlequin Jack and Jill; or Mother Goose at Home Once More, Adelphi Theatre, 1855.

  • Jack and Jill: For Old and Young, by L. A. Gobright, 1872. (Internet Archive)

  • “Goose à la Mode: Modern Versification on Ancient Themes,” by Elisabeth Cavazza, Portland Daily Press, 23 Nov. 1875. Reprinted in Humorous Masterpieces from American Literature, 1886. (Internet Archive)

  • Little Bo‐Peep; or, Harlequin Jack and Jill, by J. and H. Paneton, songs by W. M. Akhurst, 1875. (Internet Archive)

  • “Directions for a Mother Goose Party,” by Geo. B. Bartlett, 1877. Reprinted in New Games for Parlor and Lawn with a Few Old Friends in a New Dress, 1882. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

    • Reprinted in A Dream of Mother Goose and Other Entertainments, 1908. (HathiTrust)

  • Slices of Mother Goose, by Alice Parkman, illustrated by James Wells Champney, 1877. (Internet Archive)

  • Jack and Jill: A Village Story, by Louisa May Alcott, 1880. (Internet Archive)

  • “The Marriage of Santa Claus,” The Reading Club and Handy Speaker: Being Serious, Humorous, Pathetic, Patriotic, and Dramatic Selections in Prose and Poetry, for Readings and Recitations, no. 9, ed. George Melville Baker, 1881. (Internet Archive)

  • “A New Jack & Jill,” by Margaret Johnson, St. Nicholas, vol. 11, no. 3, Jan. 1884. (Internet Archive)

  • “Jack and Jill,” by Charles Battell Loomis, The Independent, vol. 41, no. 2124, 15 Aug. 1889. (HathiTrust)

    • Reprinted in A Parody Anthology, 1904. (Internet Archive)

  • Jack and Jill: A Love Story, by W. E. Brown, 1891. (Internet Archive)

  • “The Mother Goose Carnival,” by Mrs. John D. Thayer, The Ladies’ Home Journal, vol. 9, no. 2, Jan. 1892. (HathiTrust)

  • “Jack and Jill,” by Bernard Capes, MacMillan’s Magazine, vol. 76, no. 452, June 1897. (Internet Archive)

    • Reprinted in At a Winter’s Fire, 1899. (Internet Archive)

  • “A Smile Within a Tear,” A Smile Within a Tear and Other Fairy Stories, by Guendolen Ramsden (d. 1910), two illustrations by Bertha Newcombe (d. 1947), 1897. (Google Books) (BL) (Internet Archive, two pages illegible)

  • “Christmas Eve at Mother Hubbard’s (A Christmas Play for School or Parlor Entertainment),” by S. J. D., St. Nicholas, vol. 25, no. 3, Jan. 1898. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • “Once upon a time, my dears” and “Jack and Jill went up the hill,” The Rhymes of Father Goosie Gander: A Companion and Sequel to Mother Goose Melodies, by Blanche Carpenter Huleatt and Belle Carpenter Sabin, illustrated by Blanche Carpenter Huleatt, 1898. (Internet Archive) (UF)

  • “The Admirable Assertiveness of Jilted Jack,” Mother Goose for Grown‐Ups, by Guy Wetmore Carryl, 1900. (Internet Archive)

  • The April Baby’s Book of Tunes with the Story of How They Came to Be Written, by Elizabeth von Arnim (d. 1941), illustrated by Kate Greenaway (d. 1901), 1900. (Internet Archive)

  • “A Jack and Jill of the Sierras: A Story of the California Mines,” by Bret Harte, McClure’s Magazine, vol. 15, no. 3, July 1900. (Internet Archive)

    • Reprinted in From Sand‐Hill to Pine, 1900. (Internet Archive)

  • Runaway Robinson, by Charles M. Snyder, 1901. (HathiTrust)

  • In Happy Far‐Away Land, by Ruth Kimball Gardiner from tales told by Frances Palmer Kimball, 1902. (Internet Archive)

  • “Jim and Ella climbed a hill,” Yankee Mother Goose, by Benj. F. Cobb, illustrated by Ella S. Brison, 1902. (Internet Archive)

  • “Reunion at Mother Goose’s,” by Carolyn Wells, illustrated by J. J. Gould, The Saturday Evening Post, vol. 176, no. 23, 5 Dec. 1903. (HathiTrust)

  • “A Message to Mother Goose,” by Ellen Manly, St. Nicholas, vol. 32, no. 2, Dec. 1904. (Internet Archive)

  • “History of Poetry,” Ancient Poetry Revised and Modernized …, by J. Edward Boyd, 1905. (Internet Archive)

  • Some Adventures of Jack & Jill, by Barbara Yechton, 1905. (Internet Archive)

  • Boy Blue and His Friends, by Etta Austin Blaisdell and Mary Frances Blaisdell, 1906. (Internet Archive)

  • “Jack and Gill went up the hill, / In a coal‐oil buggy” (rhyme), Mrs. Goose: Her Book, by Maurice Switzer, 1906. (HathiTrust)

  • “A Dream of Mother Goose,” by J. C. Marchant and S. J. Mayhew, and “Scenes from Mother Goose,” by Harriette Wilbur, A Dream of Mother Goose and Other Entertainments, 1908. (HathiTrust)

  • “The Gingerbread Boy,” The Progressive Road to Reading, bk. 1, by Georgine Burchill, William L. Ettinger and Edgar Dubs Shimer, 1909. (HathiTrust, US access only) (Internet Archive, sans illustrations) (Google Books)

  • “Jack and Jill went up the hill,” Mother Goose and What Happened Next, by Anna Marion Smith, illustrated by Reginald Bathurst Birch, 1909. Likely a reprint. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • “Jack and Jill” (28) and “Little Bo‐Peep and Her Sheep” (114), Rimes and Stories, by Lura Mary Eyestone, 1910. (HathiTrust)

  • “The Christmas Conspiracy: A Christmas Play for Boys and Girls,” by Elizabeth Woodbridge, St. Nicholas, vol. 39, no. 2, Dec. 1911. (Internet Archive)

  • “Jack and Jill / Sped up the hill” (rhyme), The Bull Moose Mother Goose, by Sallie Macrum Cubbage, 1912. (HathiTrust)

  • “Boys of Mother Goose Land” (play), by Stanley Schell, Boy Impersonations, Werner’s Readings and Recitations, no. 52, 1913. (HathiTrust)

  • Jack & Jill: A Fairy Story, by Greville MacDonald, 1913. (Internet Archive)

  • The Marriage of Jack and Jill: A Mother Goose Entertainment in Two Scenes, by Lilian Clisby Bridgham, 1913. (Internet Archive)

  • “Jack and Jill Go Fishing,” Told by the Camp Fire, by F. H. Cheley, 1914. (HathiTrust)

  • “An Afternoon Call: Rote Song,” Second Year Music, by Hollis Dann, Hollis Dann Music Course, 1915. (HathiTrust)

  • Miss Muffet Lost and Found: A Mother Goose Play, by Katharine C. Baker, 1915. (HathiTrust)

  • The New Woman in Mother Goose Land: A Play for Children, by Edyth M. Wormwood, 1915. (Internet Archive)

  • The Pixie in the House, by Laura Rountree Smith, illustrated by Clara Powers Wilson, (Nov.) 1915. (Internet Archive) (1925, HathiTrust)

  • The Modern Mother Goose: A Play in Three Acts, by Helen Hamilton, 1916. (Internet Archive)

  • “The Story Book Ball” (song), by George Perry, music by Billie Montgomery, cover illustration by William Austin Starmer (d. 1955) or Frederick Waite Starmer (d. 1962), 1917. (Johns Hopkins U.)

  • “The Cost of Dying,” by J. Don. Tracy, The Union Postal Employe, vol. 13, no. 11, Nov. 1917. (HathiTrust)

  • “Jack and Jill went up the hill,” Mother Goose Comes to Portland, by Frederic W. Freeman, 1918. (Internet Archive)

  • The Doll Shop, by Helen Langhanke and Lois Cool Morstrom, (Nov.) 1920. (Internet Archive)

  • “Jack and Jill went up the hill,” The Metropolitan Mother Goose, by Elizabeth C. Watson, illustrated by Emma Clark, 1920. (Internet Archive)

  • The Children Who Followed the Piper, by Padraic Colum (d. 1972), 1922. Appears to have been first published in the US. (Internet Archive)

  • The Strike Mother Goose Settled, by Evelyn Hoxie, 1922. (Internet Archive)

  • Uncle Wiggily and Old Mother Hubbard: Adventures of the Rabbit Gentleman with the Mother Goose Characters, by Howard R. Garis, illustrated by Edward Bloomfield and Lansing Campbell, 1922. (upenn)

  • “Jack and Jill and Bumbo the Bear,” by Sarah Addington, illustrations by Gertrude A. Kay, The Ladies’ Home Journal, vol. 40, no. (3?), Mar. 1923. (HathiTrust)

  • The Real Personages of Mother Goose, by Katherine Elwes Thomas, 1930. (HathiTrust)

  • “Jack and Jill went up the hill to see their men in action” (rhyme), testimony of Harvey Matusow before the Committee on Un‐American Activities, House of Representatives, Eighty‐second Congress, second session, 7 Feb. 1952. (HathiTrust)

    • Reprinted in False Witness, 1955. (HathiTrust) (Internet Archive)

  • “Jack and Jill Cookies” (recipe), Betty Crocker’s Cooky Book, 1963. (HathiTrust)

— In connection with Hyúki and Bil (a.k.a. Mashu and Mashtu)

• • Gylfaginning, in Prose Edda, compiled by Snorri Sturluson, ca. 1220.

    • “Gylfi’s Mocking,” The Prose or Younger Edda …, trans. George Webbe Dasent, 1842. (Internet Archive)

    • “Of the Sun and Moon” and “Of the Wolves That Pursue the Sun and Moon,” trans. I. A. Blackwell, Northern Antiquities; or, An Historical Account of the Manners, Customs, Religion and Laws, Maritime Expeditions and Discoveries, Language and Literature of the Ancient Scandinavians, (Danes, Swedes, Norwegians and Icelanders): With Incidental Notices Respecting Our Saxon Ancestors … Revised Throughout, and Considerably Enlarged; with a Translation of the Prose Edda from the Original Old Norse Text; and Notes Critical and Explanatory …, 1847. (Internet Archive)

    • “The Creation—(Continued),” ch. 5 of The Younger Edda: Also Called Snorre’s Edda, or the Prose Edda; an English Version of the Foreword; the Fooling of Gylfe, the Afterword; Brage’s Talk, the Afterword to Brage’s Talk, and the Important Passages in the Poetical Diction (Skaldskaparmal), with an Introduction, Notes, Vocabulary, and Index, trans. Rasmus B. Anderson, 1879. (Internet Archive)

    • “Here Begins the Beguiling of Gylfi,” The Prose Edda, trans. Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur, 1916. (Internet Archive)

  • “Børnene i Maanen” (poem), Oehlenſchlägers ſamlede Digte, by Adam Oehlenschläger, 1823. (Google Books) (Internet Archive)

    • Reprinted in Oehlenſchlägers Digteværker: …, Oehlenſchlägers ſamlede Værker, vol. 26, 1846. (HathiTrust) (kalliope)

    • “The Children in the Moon,” with an illustration, Ballad Stories of the Affections: From the Scandinavian, ed. (trans.?) Robert Buchanan, [1866]. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust) (Other translations?)

  • Northern Mythology, Comprising the Principal Popular Traditions and Superstitions of Scandinavia, North Germany, and the Netherlands; Compiled from Original and Other Sources, vol. 1, sec. 1, by Benjamin Thorpe, 1851. Bil and Hiuki (Hviki). (Internet Archive)

  • “The Man in the Moon,” Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, by Sabine Baring‐Gould, 1866. (Internet Archive)

  • The Hydah Mission, Queen Charlotte’s Islands: An Account of the Mission and People, with a Descriptive Letter …, by Rev. Charles Harrison (d. 1926), 1884. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • “Records of Mythology,” ch. 4 of Lincolnshire and the Danes, by Rev. G. S. Streatfeild, 1884. Bil and Hjúki. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • “The Man in the Moon,” Moon Lore, by Rev. Timothy Harley, 1885. (Internet Archive)

  • “The Beginning of All Things,” ch. 1 of Myths of Northern Lands: Narrated with Special Reference to Literature and Art, by H. A. Guerber, 1895. Hiuki and Bil. (Internet Archive)

  • “Jack and Jill: A Scandinavian Myth,” Classic Myths: Greek, German, and Scandinavian, Retold for Primary Pupils, by Mary Catherine Judd, 1896. (HathiTrust)

  • “The Beginning of Things,” In the Days of Giants: A Book of Norse Tales, by Abbie Farwell Browne, 1902. Hiuki and Bil. (Internet Archive)

  • “The Children in the Moon,” The Book of Nature Myths, by Florence Holbrook, 1902. Jack and Jill. (Internet Archive)

  • “Notes on Faiths and Folk‐lore of the Moon,” ch. 3 of Oriental Studies, by Lewis Dayton Burdick, 1905. Hiuki and Bil. (Internet Archive)

  • “Story of Creation,” ch. 1 of Teutonic Myth and Legend: An Introduction to the Eddas & Sagas, Beowulf, the Nibelungenlied, Etc., by Donald Alexander Mackenzie, [1912]. (HathiTrust, US access only) (HathiTrust, US access only) (Internet Archive) (Internet Archive)

  • Dictionary of Mythology Folklore and Symbols, pt. 1, by Gertrude Jobes, 1961. Entries for Hyuki and Bil (814), Jack and Jill (856) and Mashu and Mashtu (1072). (HathiTrust)

— Movie

—Jack and Jill, by Gardner Hunting and Margaret Turnbull, dir. William Desmond Taylor, cinematographer Homer Scott, Paramount Pictures, 1917.

http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/BGMG058.html