Old King Cole
1708 
England Lyrics
And a merry old soul was he;
He called for his pipe, and he called for his bowl,
And he called for his fiddlers three.
Every fiddler he had a fiddle,
And a very fine fiddle had he;
Oh there's none so rare, as can compare,
With King Cole and his fiddlers three.
History and Meaning
"Old King Cole" is one of the oldest nursery rhymes, with its first appearance in print dating to around 1708-1709 in William King's "Useful Transactions in Philosophy." The rhyme depicts a merry old king who enjoys his pipe, his bowl (a drinking vessel), and the music of his "fiddlers three," creating an image of celebration and merriment. While many have speculated about King Cole's true identity—from Coel Hen, a semi-legendary Celtic chieftain who ruled northern Britain around 350-420 AD, to a fictional 16th-century cloth merchant named Thomas Cole from Reading—literary historians generally agree that he cannot be reliably identified as any single historical figure. The Irish word "ceol," meaning "music," lends support to the musical interpretation of this cheerful rhyme, which celebrates joy and entertainment rather than conveying any particular moral lesson.