Famous for appearing in the pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk, the rhyme is pretty old - centuries old in fact

Advertisement

The first appearance we know about is its reference in the 1596 pamphlet "Haue with You to Saffron-Walden" by Thomas Nashe, who says that the rhyme was already old and its origins obscure.

'Fee-fi-fo-fum' lyrics

Fee-fi-fo-fum,
I smell the blood of an Englishman,
Be he alive, or be he dead
I'll grind his bones to make my bread


Advertisement

Main image © Arthur Rackham, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons