Collection Information: This Little Piggy was collected on April 24th, 2014 in Culver, Indiana. It belongs to a sub-genre of nursery rhymes called fingerplay.
Informant: The informant was Joe Faulkner, a 56 year old father of three. He was born in Iowa and has lived all over the country, but now he lives in Culver, IN. His family has lived in the United States for several generations, but his mother identifies with her English heritage and taught him this fingerplay. He now works as a physician.
Text:
This little piggy went to market, (wiggle the child’s big toe)
This little piggy stayed home, (wiggle the child’s second toe)
This little piggy ate roast beef, (wiggle the child’s third toe)
This little piggy ate none, (wiggle the child’s fourth toe)
And this little piggy cried “wee wee wee!” all the way home. (wiggle the child’s little toe faster, intended to tickle)
Context: While there are no explicitly bed-time related themes or messages in this fingerplay song, it is typically performed just before bed. Part of the reason for this is that it is sung by a parent to a child, and as the song is sung, the parent wiggles the child’s toes. As such, the child needs to not be wearing shoes or socks, which most often happens before bed. The informant explained that his mother would perform this fingerplay with him.
Meaning and Interpretation: There does not seem to be any moral attached to this fingerplay, it is just a fun story way for a parent to entertain and bond with a child. By transforming the child’s toes into cute “little piggies,” the child is more able to envision the story and be transferred to another world. When his children were growing up, one of the informant’s favorite ways to bond with them was through physical play, such as wrestling and tickling. As such, he enjoyed this fingerplay because of how it involved wiggling his kids toes and usually got them to laugh.
Collector’s Information: Chris Faulkner, Dartmouth ’14, Russian 13, Professor Mikhail Gronas, Spring 2014
