The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #12823   Message #1361302
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
19-Dec-04 - 03:01 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Ten Little Indians
Subject: RE: req/add: 10 Little Indians
Septimus Winner (1868), in sheet music linked by Masato, above, had an "Encore Verse."
This little 'Injun' with his little wife
Lived in a wigwam the balance of his life;
One daddy 'Injun' and a mommy 'squaw'
Brought up a family of ten Injuns more.

(This verse was incorporated into the version in "Heart Songs."
"One little couple dwelling by the shore,
Soon raised a family of ten niggers more.")

One ..."kicked the bucket" and then there were seven- Interesting: the expression appeared in 1785 in Grose, "Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue," so it may have originated in England. Perhaps from kicking a bucket from under the feet of a hanging man. The same reference lists "kickerapoo" as a Negro word for dead. Any relation?