Three Little Kittens

First recorded: 1833

Origin: USA

Lyrics

The three little kittens they lost their mittens,And they began to cry,Oh, mother dear, we sadly fearOur mittens we have lostWhat? Lost your mittens, you naughty kittens!Then you shall have no pie.Mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow.We shall have no pie.Our mittens we have lost.

The three little kittens they found their mittens,And they began to smile,Oh, mother dear, see here, see here,Our mittens we have foundWhat? Found your mittens, you good little kittens,And you shall have some pie.Mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow.We shall have some pie.Let us have some pie.

The three little kittens put on their mittens,And soon ate up the pie;Oh, mother dear, we greatly fearOur mittens we have soiledWhat? Soiled your mittens, you naughty kittens!Then they began to sigh,Mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow.Our mittens we have soiled.Then they began to sigh.

The three little kittens they washed their mittens,And hung them out to dry;Oh! mother dear, look here, look here,Our mittens we have washedWhat? Washed your mittens, you good little kittens,But I smell a rat close by.Mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow.We smell a rat close by.Let's all have some pie.

History and Meaning

Three kittens lose their mittens, find them, dirty them, wash them, and finally earn their pie. The small domestic drama of "Three Little Kittens" was shaped into its familiar form by Eliza Lee Cabot Follen, a Boston abolitionist, who published it in 1833.

Origins

While the rhyme draws on older British oral traditions, the polished version recognized today is credited to the American poet, author, and abolitionist Eliza Lee Cabot Follen. Follen, a Bostonian Sunday school teacher, refined the rhyme to make it more imaginative and engaging for children, shifting away from the dry moralizing common in nineteenth-century literature.

Follen's poem was first published anonymously in Britain in 1833 in her collection Little Songs for Little Boys and Girls. It was later published in the United States under her name in 1843 in the collection New Nursery Songs for All Good Children. The song became a permanent fixture of Mother Goose collections globally.

Meaning & Interpretation

The narrative follows a clear sequence: the kittens lose their mittens and are denied pie by their mother, find their mittens and are rewarded, soil the mittens while eating the pie, and finally wash the mittens to regain their mother's favor.

Literary scholars note that the kittens' wearing of mittens and their desire for baked pie represents a bourgeois, comfortable lifestyle, separating them from the utilitarian barnyard cats of older folk tales. The final lines, where the mother kitten smells a rat close by, introduce a traditional feline element, reminding the reader of the cats' natural hunting instincts despite their humanlike clothing.

Who wrote Three Little Kittens?

The modern polished version of the song was written by American poet Eliza Lee Cabot Follen. She first published the verses in Britain in 1833 and in the United States in 1843.

What is the story of Three Little Kittens?

The rhyme tells the story of three kittens who lose their mittens and are refused pie by their mother. They find, soil, and wash their mittens, resolving the conflict and earning their dessert.