Little Miss Muffet

thumb|300px|The Little Miss Muffet Pageant
thumb|300px|Little Miss Muffet enjoying her stew.
Little Miss Muffet is one of the most commonly printed nursery rhymes. The rhyme first appeared in print in 1805, and its origins are unknown. Some believe it to be written by a sixteenth century entomologist (one who studies insects), while others believe it is in reference to Mary, Queen of Scots and her fear of religious reformer John Knox. 
The most common lyrics to the rhyme are as follows:
 
The poem has been the inspiration and basis for many Muppet productions and references.
==Adaptations==
* The nursery rhyme was the inspiration for the Mother Goose Stories episode "Miss Muffet."
* On Sesame Street, Little Miss Muffet has been featured in numerous skits throughout the series.
::*The Miss Muffet Play
::*Sesame Street News Flash sketch
::*An animated song version about the number 8
::*A story read by Gina entitled "Little Miss Muffet and the Spider: The Continuing Story."
==Recordings==
* Featured as part of the Grouch Medley on the recording Kids' Favorite Songs.
==References==
* A Little Miss Muffet pageant is shown in The Sesame Street Dictionary, with Miss Muffet's spider revealed to be her pet, Stanley.
* In Episode 2930 of Sesame Street, Little Miss Muffet donates the whey from her curds and whey as part of Elmo's alphabet collection.
* In a 1993 episode of Sesame Street, Humpty Dumpty decides to sit on a tuffet, like Little Miss Muffet. Unfortunately, he falls off and shatters when he sees a spider.
* In another 1993 episode of Sesame Street, Miss Muffet has gotten married and is now known as Ms. Muffet-Malone. Her poem is now known as:
::"Ms. Muffet-Malone sat on a throne
::With her husband Frank, eating curds and whey
::When a spider who'd seen them
::Sat right in between them
::And frightened them both away!"
* In yet another 1993 episode, Bob reads Telly Monster the story of Little Miss Muffet, which Telly could identify from the pictures.
* When Mother Goose came to visit Sesame Street in Episode 3057, she reveals that Miss Muffet grew up to be a bug-and-spider specialist.
* In Episode 4098 of Sesame Street, Goldilocks sits on Miss Muffet's tuffet and eats her curds and whey, causing the real Miss Muffet to accuse her of stealing her nursery rhyme.
* In the Sesame Street video Let's Eat!: Funny Food Songs, Miss Muffet is a patron at the Planet Storybook restaurant.
* In Elmo's World: Bugs, Prairie Dawn tells the story of Little Miss Muffet in a video email. A spider shows up who prefers yogurt and granola to curds and whey.
* William Wegman featured Miss Muffet in one of his film segments with his dogs for Sesame Street.
* Miss Muffet appears in the book Around the Corner on Sesame Street.
* In an episode of Muppets Tonight, Bobo the Bear dresses as Miss Muffet to catch a spider accused of harassment in a Fairyland PD sketch.
* The Muppet Babies book Big Book of Nursery Rhymes & Fairy Tales features the Babies acting out the nursery rhyme.
* In Sesame Street's Mother Goose Rhymes, Betty Lou takes on the role of Miss Muffet, sitting on her tuffet and eating a bowl of stew in this version. She invites the spider who sits down beside her to some of her stew.
* Bert tells the story in The Sesame Street Library Volume 4.
* The story of Miss Muffet is included in the book series Read Along with Elmo.
* The theme of a 2001 episode of Sesame Street is "Nursery Rhyme Day," and Zoe takes on the role of Miss Muffet, with Baby Bear and the Kids playing the role of the Spider. Zoe doesn't want to play Miss Muffet, as she's never had curds and whey before, but Big Bird suggests that she try it. Baby Bear counters she doesn't have to, since it is his job to scare her away before she does so. He is unable to do so though, as she discovers that she indeed likes curds and whey, and she finds Baby Bear and the kids' spider costume funny. Unhappy with the outcome of the rhyme, Big Bird rewrites it, allowing both Miss Muffet and the spiders to all have their own bowls of curds and whey.
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Category:Literary References
Category:Nursery Rhymes
Category:Sesame Street Songs