Someone bought us a little battery-operated robin for Christmas which sings different little ditties and waggles its head when you clap your hands. One of the tunes is this nursery rhyme that both our children sang forty years ago in their playgroups. It was one of their favourites and we often heard them chuntering away with it when they were playing quietly with their toys. I was astonished to find that wiki calls it a folk song and that it dates back to at least 1785! Looks like it's gone through a bit of a folk process since then too!