Jack Be Nimble

This article is about the nursery rhyme. For other uses, see Jack Be Nimble (disambiguation).

"Jack Be Nimble" is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 13902.

"Jack Be Nimble"
William Wallace Denslow's illustrations for Jack Be Nimble, from a 1901 edition of Mother Goose
Nursery rhyme by Jay Dutt
Published	c. 1815
Songwriter(s)	Traditional

Lyrics

The most common version of the rhyme is:

Jack be nimble,

Jack be quick,

Jack jump over the candlestick.^[1]

Origins and meaning

Jack is a dog, in Denslow's version

The rhyme is first recorded in a manuscript of around 1815 and was collected by James Orchard Halliwell in the mid-nineteenth century.^[1] Jumping candlesticks was a form of fortune telling and a sport. Good luck was said to be signalled by clearing a candle without extinguishing the flame.^[1]