Then came the Angel of Death and killed the butcher, etc.

Then came the Holy One, Blessed be He! and

slew the Angel of Death, that killed the butcher, that slew the ox, that drank the water, that quenched the fire, 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!"

Now for the interpretation-for it is a historical and a prophetic nursery rhyme. The kid which Jehovah the father purchased denotes the select Hebrew race; the two pieces of money represent Moses and Aaron; the cat signifies the Assyrians, by whom the ten tribes were taken into captivity; the dog is representative of the Babylonians; the staff typifies the Persians; the fire is Alexander the Great at the head of the Grecian Empire; the water the Roman domination over the Jews; the ox the Saracens who subdued the Holy

Land and brought it under the Caliph; the butcher is a symbol of the Crusaders' slaughter; the Angel of Death the Turkish power; the last stanza is to show that God will take vengeance on the Turks when. Israel will again become a fixed nation and Occupy Palestine. The Edomites (the Europeans) will combine and drive out

the Turks.

Everyone, big and little, will recognise the source of the nursery fable of "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, etc.

This is the cat that killed the rat that ate the malt, etc.

This is the dog that worried the cat that killed

the rat, etc.

This is the cow with a crumpled horn that tossed the little dog over the barn, that worried the cat that killed the rat, etc.

This is the maiden all forlorn that milked the

cow with a crumpled horn, that tossed the little dog over the barn, etc.

This is the man all tatters and torn, that kissed the maiden all forlorn, that milked the cow with a crumpled horn, etc.

This is the priest all shaven and shorn, that married the man all tatters and torn to the maiden all forlorn, etc.

This is the cock that crowed in the morn, that wakened the priest all shaven and shorn, that married the man, etc.

This is the farmer sowing his corn, that fed the cock that crowed in the morn, that wakened the priest all shaven and shorn, that married the man all tatters and torn unto the maiden all forlorn, that milked the cow with a crumpled horn, that tossed the little dog over the barn, that worried the cat, that killed the rat, that ate the malt, that lay in the house that Jack built."

A Scotch and North of England nursery tale, two centuries old, is cast in the same mould, or rather built on the hymn of the Hebrews found in the Sepher Haggadah. It is given below.

"There was an old woman swept her house and found a silver penny,

And she went to market and bought a kid;

But when she came to drive it home kid would

not go.

She went a little further and met a stick, and

said to it,

'Stick, stick, beat kid, kid won't go, 'tis a'most

midnight, and hame I must go.'

She went a little further and met a fire.

'Fire, fire, burn stick, stick won't beat kid, kid won't go, 'tis a'most midnight, and hame I must go.'

But the fire would not.

She went a little further and met with water. 'Water, water, quench fire, fire won't burn

stick,' etc.

But the water would not.

She went a little further and met an ox. 'Ox, ox, drink water,' etc.

She went a little further and met a butcher, etc.

She went a little further and met a rope, etc.

She went a little further and met some grease,

etc.

'Grease, grease, grease rope.'

She went a little further and met a rat.

'Rat, rat, eat grease,' etc.

She went a little further and met a cat. 'Cat, cat, kill rat,' etc.

The cat began to bite the rat, the rat began to eat the grease, the grease began to grease the rope, the rope to hang the butcher, the butcher to kill the ox, the ox to drink the water, the water to quench the fire, the fire to burn the stick, the stick to beat the kid, and so the kid went home."

In other accounts of the same tale the kid is a pig, the silver penny a crooked sixpence; the pig would not go over the stile, and the old woman could not get her old man's supper ready.