e,
That burned the staff,
That beat the dog,
That bit the cat,
That ate the kid,
That my father bought
For two pieces of money:
A kid, a kid."

There is an elaborate interpretation of the
symbolism of this hymn, going back at least as
far as 1731, in which the kid denotes the
Hebrews, the father is Jehovah, the cat is the
Assyrians, the dog is the Babylonians, the
staff is the Persians, the fire is Greece under
Alexander, the water is the Roman Empire, the
ox is the Saracens, the butcher is the
crusaders, the angel of death is the Turkish
power, while the concluding accumulation shows
that God will take vengeance on the enemies of
the chosen people. This is the interpretation
in barest outline only. Without the key no one
would ever guess its hidden meaning.
Fortunately, "The House That Jack Built" has no
such hidden meaning. But the important point
is that such accumulative stories are almost as
old as human records, and, like so many other
possessions of the race, seem to have come to
us from the Far East.

THIS IS THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT

This is the house that Jack built.

This is the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.

This is the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.

This is the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.

This is the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.

This is the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.

This is the maiden all forlorn,
That milked the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.

This is the man all tattered and torn,
That kissed the maiden all forlorn,
That milked the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog,