As I was going to St Ives facts for kids

"As I was going to St Ives" (Roud 19772) is a traditional English nursery rhyme. It's actually a clever riddle that makes you think!

The most common version you'll hear today goes like this:

As I was going to St. Ives,

I met a man with seven wives,

Each wife had seven sacks,

Each sack had seven cats,

Each cat had seven kits:

Kits, cats, sacks, and wives,

How many were there going to St. Ives?

Where Did the Rhyme Come From?

Early Versions of the Riddle

This riddle has been around for a long time! One of the oldest versions was found in a handwritten book from around 1730. It was a bit different:

As I went to St. Ives

I met Nine Wives

And every Wife had nine Sacs,

And every Sac had nine Cats

And every Cat had nine Kittens

Later, in 1779, a version very similar to the one we know now was printed in a magazine called the Weekly Magazine.

The Man with Seven Wives

In the oldest printed versions, the rhyme didn't mention "a man with" the wives. This part was added around 1837. It might seem like the rhyme is talking about a man who has many wives, but it's just a funny part of the riddle. It helps the rhyme sound good and doesn't mean anything serious.

Which St. Ives?

When this rhyme first became popular, there were a few towns in England named St Ives. People usually think the rhyme is about St Ives, Cornwall. This town was a busy fishing port. It had many cats to help keep rats and mice away from the fishing nets and gear.

However, some people believe the rhyme is about St Ives, Cambridgeshire. This is an old market town. So, it could also be a place someone was going to.

Solving the Riddle

The Traditional Answer

The most common way to solve this riddle is to realize that only one person is going to St. Ives: the person telling the story (the narrator). Everyone else—the man, his wives, the sacks, cats, and kits—are all coming from St. Ives.

The trick is that the riddle makes you want to add up all the animals and people. But if you read carefully, only the narrator is traveling to St. Ives. If everyone mentioned were going to St. Ives, the total would be 2,802! That's the narrator, the man, 7 wives, 49 sacks, 343 cats, and 2,401 kits.

In 1779, someone named "Philo-Rhithmus" wrote a poem explaining the answer:

Why the deuce do you give yourselves so much vexation,

And puzzle your brains with a long calculation

Of the number of cats, with their kittens and sacks,

Which went to St Ives, on the old women's backs,

As you seem to suppose? — Don't you see that the cunning

Old Querist went only? — The rest were all coming.

Other Ways to Look at It

Because of how the riddle is worded, there can be other answers too!

• Traveling Together? The word "met" could mean they joined the narrator and were traveling in the same direction. If so, then you would add everyone up.
• Were the Wives There? Maybe the "man with seven wives" just owned seven wives, but they weren't with him on his trip. In that case, only the man and the narrator would be going.
• Counting Only the Others? Some people think the question "How many were there going to St Ives?" only asks about the "kits, cats, sacks, and wives." If only the narrator was going, and the question excludes him, then the answer could be zero.

The riddle is fun because it makes you think about words and numbers in different ways!

An Ancient Riddle Connection

The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus

Did you know a very similar math problem exists from ancient Egypt? It's found in the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, which is a very old scroll from around 1650 BC.

The papyrus shows a problem that looks like an inventory (a list of items):

This ancient problem is a way to show how to multiply numbers. It lists powers of 7 (7, 7x7=49, 7x7x7=343, and so on). It's a bit like the "St. Ives" rhyme where numbers multiply at each step (7 wives, 7 sacks each, 7 cats each, etc.).

Interestingly, the ancient Egyptian writer made a small mistake in the papyrus. The fourth number (2,301 for spelt) should have been 2,401. But the total sum at the end is still correct!

This shows that riddles and math problems with multiplying numbers have been around for thousands of years!

See Also

• Riddle
• Nursery rhyme