<P> Although the song was not recorded until the mid-eighteenth century, there is some evidence that it is much older . The death of a robin by an arrow is depicted in a 15th - century stained glass window at Buckland Rectory, Gloucestershire, and the rhyme is similar to a story, Phyllyp Sparowe, written by John Skelton about 1508 . The use of the rhyme' owl' with' shovel', could suggest that it was originally used in older middle English pronunciation . Versions of the story appear to exist in other countries, including Germany . </P> <P> A number of theories have been advanced to explain the meaning of the rhyme: </P> <Ul> <Li> According to Celtic calendar traditions, Lugh can be seen as the sun god who dies as the nights get longer after the summer solstice; a traditional feast in his honour was held on Lughnasadh or "Lammas" day on the first of August, a day marked in a supposed Celtic pictographic calendar with a bow - and - arrow shape . As Lugh was the primary god representing the red sun, his name in alleged common parlance would have been "Coch Rhi Ben" anglicised to "Cock Robin"--a leftover from the belief that souls became birds after death . This idea is still sustained in the old folk song "Who Killed Cock Robin" in which the sparrow kills him with "my bow and arrow", the sparrow here representing Bran, the tanist incarnation or opposite of Lugh--the god of winter . (Via www.lablit.com/article/341) </Li> <Li> The rhyme records a mythological event, such as the death of the god Balder from Norse mythology, or the ritual sacrifice of a king figure, as proposed by early folklorists as in the' Cutty Wren' theory of a' pagan survival' . </Li> <Li> It is a parody of the death of King William II, who was killed by an arrow while hunting in the New Forest (Hampshire) in 1100, and who was known as William Rufus, meaning "red". </Li> <Li> The rhyme is connected with the fall of Robert Walpole's government in 1742, since Robin is a diminutive form of Robert and the first printing is close to the time of the events mentioned . </Li> </Ul> <Li> According to Celtic calendar traditions, Lugh can be seen as the sun god who dies as the nights get longer after the summer solstice; a traditional feast in his honour was held on Lughnasadh or "Lammas" day on the first of August, a day marked in a supposed Celtic pictographic calendar with a bow - and - arrow shape . As Lugh was the primary god representing the red sun, his name in alleged common parlance would have been "Coch Rhi Ben" anglicised to "Cock Robin"--a leftover from the belief that souls became birds after death . This idea is still sustained in the old folk song "Who Killed Cock Robin" in which the sparrow kills him with "my bow and arrow", the sparrow here representing Bran, the tanist incarnation or opposite of Lugh--the god of winter . (Via www.lablit.com/article/341) </Li>

Who saw him die i said the fly