King Cole

King Cole or King Coal or King Coul is, by most accounts, a merry king known for summoning musicians to perform for him and whose kingdom is often portrayed as being populated by personages from nursery rhymes and fairy tales. According to a 1921 text, he has played a crucial rôle in Santa Claus’ adopting his annual tradition of giving gifts.

According to an 1889 text, he is married to Queen Tutta Forza (Old King Cole), but according to a 1902 text, he is married to Queen Anne (In Happy Far‐Away Land), and according to a 1907 text, he is married to Queen Kate (“Mother Goose Continued”).

• • “Old King Cole” or “Good King Cole” (nursery rhyme), Roud 1164, 1700s or earlier. (ODNR 112, p. 134)

    • “Good King Cole,” in “A New Method to Teach Learned Men How to Write Unintelligibly: Being Collections out of Softlinius an Italian; Bardowlius and Bardocoxcombius, One Poet Laureat to King Ludd, the Other to Queen Bonduca; Scornſenſius an Ægyptian, &c. Communicated by Mr. Loveit to Mr. Lackit,” Uſeful Tranſactions in Philoſophy, and Other Sorts of Learning …, vol. 1, by William King, (Jan.–Feb.) 1708–09 (O.S.–N.S.). But apparently confused and blended with “Four‐and‐Twenty Fiddlers.” (Internet Archive) (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

    • “Old King Coul,” Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs, Heroic Ballads, Etc. Collected from Memory, Tradition, and Ancient Authors, vol. 2, collected by David Herd, 1776. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

    • “Auld King Coul,” The Scots Musical Museum in Six Volumes: Consisting of Six Hundred Scots Songs with Proper Baſses for the Pianoforte, &c. Humbly Dedicated to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. 5, ed. James Johnson, 1797. (1839 ed., HathiTrust)

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

    • The Nursery Rhymes of England, Collected Principally from Oral Tradition, 1842. (HathiTrust) (Internet Archive)

    • “Old King Coul,” The Book of Scottish Song; Collected and Illustrated with Historical and Critical Notices, by Alex. Whitelaw, 1843. (Internet Archive)

    • The Vauxhall Comic Song‐book, ed. by J. W. Sharp, [1847]. (Google Books)

    • Songs from Mother Goose for Voice and Piano, music by Sidney Homer (op. 36), 1919. (Internet Archive)

  • Old King Cole or Harlequin and Fidlers Three, by Ducombe?, c. 1820. (Cited in Opie.)

  • Old King Cole, or Harlequin and Fiddlers Three (pantomime), Surrey Theatre, 1832. (mentioned, HathiTrust)

  • A Collection of National English Airs, Consisting of Ancient Song, Ballad, & Dance Tunes, Interspersed with Remarks and Anecdote …, ed. William Chappell, 1840. (HathiTrust, vol. 1) (HathiTrust, vol. 2)

    • The Ballad Literature and Popular Music of the Olden Time: A History of the Ancient Songs, Ballads, and of the Dance Tunes of England, with Numerous Anecdotes and Entire Ballads …, by William Chappell, [rev. 1855]. (HathiTrust)

  • “Old King Coul,” The Ballads and Songs of Ayrshire, Illustrated with Sketches, Historical, Traditional, Narrative and Biographical, 1847. (HathiTrust)

  • “Old King Coal,” The Book of Temperance Melody; Adapted and Arranged to Popular Airs, by Edwin Paxton Hood, 1850. (HathiTrust)

  • “Old King Coal,” The Collected Songs of Charles Mackay, by Charles Mackay, 1859 (Nov. 1858). (HathiTrust)

    • Reprinted with an illustration in The Illustrated London News, vol. 34, no. 953, 1 Jan. 1859. (HathiTrust)

  • Harlequin Little Tom Tucker; or, The Fine Lady of Banbury Cross, and the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe: Grand Comic Pantomime, by the Brothers Grinn, [1864?]. (Internet Archive)

  • The Lawrence “Mother Goose”: A Delightful Evening’s Entertainment; with Explicit Instructions for Carrying Out a Successful Programme, by E. D. K. [Kendall], 1878. (HathiTrust)

  • “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)

  • Old King Cole; or, Harlequin, the Girl, the Churl, and the Enchanted Pearl (pantomime), by George Thorne and F. Grove Palmer, 1886. As F. Grove Palmer’s year of death is not known, this work might not be reliably said to be in the public domain in the UK, its country of origin, until 2023.

  • Old King Cole: An Operetta Given in the Aid of the Cambridge Division of the Massachusetts Indian Association …, by James B. Greenough and F. D. Allen, 1889. (HathiTrust)

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

  • “Old King Cole,” Mother Goose in Prose, by L. Frank Baum, 1897. (Internet Archive)

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

  • King Cole: A Burlesque Operetta in Three Acts, by H. N. Cunningham, music by M. L. Cooley, 1900.

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

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

  • “Tito’s Home‐made Picture‐Book,” by George Frederick Welsford, St. Nicholas, vol. 31, no. 7, May 1904. (Internet Archive)

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

  • “Old King Coal,” Mrs. Goose: Her Book, by Maurice Switzer, 1906. (HathiTrust)

  • “Mother Goose Continued” (verse), by Anna Marion Smith, illustrated by Reginald Bathurst Birch, St. Nicholas, vol. 34, no. 5, Mar. 1907. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

    • Reprinted in Mother Goose and What Happened Next, 1909. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • “A Dream of Mother Goose,” by J. C. Marchant and S. J. Mayhew, and “A Mother Goose Party,” by G. B. Bartlett, in A Dream of Mother Goose and Other Entertainments, 1908. (HathiTrust)

  • “The Truth About Old King Cole” (poem), by G. F. Hill, illustrated by Leslie Brooke, St. Nicholas, vol. 37, no. 3, Jan. 1910. (Internet Archive)

  • “Old King Cole,” Old King Cole and Four Other Stories …, by John Martin (pseudonym of Morgan Shepard), (Oct.) 1911. (Internet Archive)

  • Young King Cole (play), by Clementia (pseudonym of Mary E. Feehan), (Nov.) 1911. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

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

  • “Old King Cole” (poem), by Edwin Arlington Robinson, Scribner’s Magazine, vol. 57, no. 5, May 1915. (HathiTrust)

    • Reprinted in The Man Against the Sky: A Book of Poems, 1916. (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.)

  • “Old King Coal is a merry old soul,” Mother Goose Comes to Portland, by Frederic W. Freeman, 1918. (Internet Archive)

  • “Old King Cole was a merry old soul,” The Siren, vol. 7, no. 1, Oct. 1919. (HathiTrust)

  • “Old King Cole was a merry old soul”, The Siren, vol. 7, no. 2, Nov. 1919. (HathiTrust)

  • “Old King Cole was a merry old clown,” The Siren, vol. 7, no. 6, Mar. 1920. (HathiTrust)

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

  • “Old King Cole: A Parody,” by G. K. Chesterton, The Living Age, vol. 308, no. 3993, 15 Jan. 1921. (HathiTrust)

  • King Cole, by John Masefield, illustrated by Judith Masefield, (Oct.) 1921. (HathiTrust)

  • “There Was a Boy Who Lived on Pudding Lane: A True Account, If Only You Believe It, of the Life and Ways of Santa, Eldest Son of Mr. and Mrs. Claus,” by Sarah Addington, The Ladies’ Home Journal, vol. 38, no. 12, Dec. 1921. (HathiTrust)

  • “Mrs. Dumpty’s Dilemma,” by Sarah Addington, The Ladies’ Home Journal, vol. 39, no. 9, Sept. 1922. (HathiTrust)

  • “Paying the Fiddlers” (rhyme), Life, vol. 80, no. 2085, 19 Oct. 1922. (HathiTrust)

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

http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/K302.html