I recently happened upon this hollow tree, and it kindled childhood memories of the stories of fairies and brownies and Mr. Froggie and Miss Mousie, all said to live in hollow trees.
Because the tree is very near a bullfrog pond, it particularly brought to mind the old nursery rhyme song, A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go or as it is known in the U.S., Froggie Went A-Courting.
According to the Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, the song can be traced through at least four centuries, back to around the year 1550. The earliest extant text is from 1611, and by the late 1700s the song was both familiar as a nursery song and was being performed on stage.
It has become a particular favorite in the U.S., especially here in Appalachia. “Song catchers,” musicologists who collected Appalachian folk songs in the early twentieth century, found as many as forty versions with twenty two variants. These include King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O which was recorded in 1928 by Chubby Parker who was an American old-time and folk musician and early radio entertainer.
Unexpected in common hours 
Wow! My kids sang this elem school. Only time I heard it. Loved it completly! Thanks for posting~
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Thank you! It’s a catchy tune, and kids love the nonsense syllables!
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Thank you for the delightful reminder of a childhood song. 🙂
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My pleasure! I learned a more traditional version as a child, but the “King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O” variant is very catchy.
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