Pontius Pilate
An undated doggerel from Western Pennsylvania was reported by H. Carrington Bolton as "Pontius Pilate, King of the Jews",/"Sold his wife for a pair of shoes."/"When the shoes began to wear"/"Pontius Pilate began to swear." Bolton received it after publishing other rhymes used by children for "counting-out". Variants on the rhyme have also been reported, including from Salt Lake City "c." 1920 and Los Angeles "c." 1935, the variants naming "Holy Moses" instead of "Pontius Pilate", and some women reported their use "as rope-skipping and ball-bouncing rhymes".