Cock Robin & Jenny Wren

A year or so ago, I brought a book home from the library, called Once upon A Time: Illustrations from Fairytales, Fables, Primers, Pop-ups, and Other Children’s Books. I’d pulled it from the shelf while browsing some afternoon, and as Sky and I both love illustrations, I thought it would serve as a good coffee table book for a few weeks.

Inside the book were tons of great illustrations and stories, but the best had to be from “The Death and Burial of Cock Robin” — all this time later, I can’t recall which edition was in the book (there are many). But suffice it to say: the pictures were beautiful. This particular part of the Life of Cock Robin tells the story of how Robin was killed on his wedding day, and how his friends took the various responsibilities that came with burying him. My favorite drawing in the book was of the flock of birds flying poor Robin to his gravesite in a little birdie coffin tied on with string.

We started looking for Cock Robin/Jenny Wren books whenever we were at thift stores, and have since found two great copies. They were really popular around the turn of the century. There are so many great design variations, though most stay pretty true to the text itself. You can see/read a nice little selection of them at The International Children’s Digital Library (ICDL) site, found by searching for the keywords “cock robin.”

Who shall dig his grave?
I said the Owl
With my spade & shovel
And I’ll dig his grave.
    This is the Owl so brave,
    That dug Cock Robin’s grave.

My grandpa used to call me Jenny Wren, so I’ve really enjoyed discovering these stories. We were thinking of a way to tie these into the wedding decor, but in some ways the story is just too sad. The romance between Jenny and Robin is sweet, but it’s a small part of the story. I just can’t get enough of all of these wonderful bird drawings — I could look at these/for these for hours!

Who’ll carry him to the grave?
I said the Kite,
If ’tis not in the night,
And I’ll carry him to the grave.
    Behold now the Kite,
    How he takes his flight.

Sky thinks we should learn this song for the ceremony