Given that information that Malcolm Douglas mentioned in his post to this thread, it's interesting to note that the American versions of "24 robbers.../ hit'em on the head with a rolling pin" as well as the New Zealand version that Little Robyn posted about "3 tom cats...they knocked me down with a rolling pin" are truer to the earlier versions of this rhyme than the UK, and Australian versions of "tom cats {et al}/... pancakes stuck to their bum".

I wonder where the "pancake stuck to the bum" ending came from? Perhaps it was just a silly ending to a funny tale of tomcats or other animals or witches etc knocking on a person's door and playing instruments for them. But I wonder this rhyme is related to the holiday Pancake Day; Pancake Tuesday that I first learned about by reading Mudcat threads. Was one of the customs of Pancake Day to go door to door singing or playing instruments? In that version of the rhyme did the tomcat get a pancake on his bum* as a punitive action {perhaps because the person whose house he visited didn't like the way he played his instrument?"

* For the sake of those readers who may not be familiar with this word, some of whom may be children, in this context, a "bum" means an animal's or person's "butt" {"behind"}.

**

Here's an excerpt from that online page about Pancake Day whose link I provided:

"Shrove Tuesday: The Pancake Fest
Shrove Tuesday gets its name from the ritual of shriving, when the faithful confessed their sins to the local priest and recieved forgiveness before the Lenten season began.

As far back as 1000 AD, "to shrive" meant to hear confessions. (Trivia note: the term survives today in the expression "short shrift" or giving little attention to anyone's explanations or excuses).

Historically, Shrove Tuesday also marked the beginning of the 40-day Lenten fasting period when the faithful were forbidden by the church to consume meat, butter, eggs or milk. However, if a family had a store of these foods they all would go bad by the time the fast ended on Easter Sunday. What to do?

Solution: use up the milk, butter and eggs no later than Shrove Tuesday. And so, with the addition of a little flour, the solution quickly presented itself in... pancakes. And lots of 'em.

Today, the Shrove Tuesday pancake tradition lives on throughout Western Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia, but is most associated with the UK where it is simply known as Pancake Day with a traditional recipe, although these can be as varied in the UK as there are British households.

In France, (as well as here in the US - or more famously - in New Orleans) it's known as Fat Tuesday which kicks off the Mardi Gras festival with wild celebrations just before the austere Lenten season.

In Sweden, Fat Tuesday translates to Fettisdagen, and in Lithuania it's Uzgavens. In Poland, traditional celebrations take place on a Thursday a week before Ash Wednesday and so it's Tlusty Czwartek, or Fat Thursday"...

-snip-

Here's another excerpt from an online article about this holiday:

"Throughout the British Isles the day before Ash Wednesday - Shrove Tuesday - is commonly known as Pancake Day. In Ireland, It's called Pancake Tuesday. As the child of Irish parents living in London, I loved watching the Pancake Races. Usually, the contestants were housewives. Each of them carried a skillet which contained a large, very thin pancake. The idea was for the women to race to the finish line, tossing their pancakes as they ran. It was hilarious - especially when a stray pancake landed where it wasn't supposed to!"...

http://www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/ACalend/ShroveTues.html

**

Again, I'm curious if the custom of "caroling" {going door to door singing and/or playing instruments} was ever associated with Pancake Day/Pancake Tuesday/Shrove Tuesday.

??