This word cupboard is in our present version misspelt, owing to some fault in copying from the original, and thus is rendered c-u-p-b-o-a-r-d; but the word properly should be spelt c-u-b-b-e-d. This is a compound word, derived from cub—a young bear—and bed, or deposit, as we speak of the bed of a river.
This was a bone deposit—a place where the ogre's food was deposited by the cub.
A young cub was a less expensive butcher than a bear, as nowadays labor is cheaper from the young aspirant than from the assured professional. Therefore they were the usual employees.
But this ogre, though evidently in the habit of employing a cub in this department, had now become dissatisfied and procured the more satisfactory service of an old bear; for, if you will carefully examine the text, you will see that the meaning is obvious, for, as though to insure all its readers from misunderstanding, you will see that it is distinctly stated that—
"The cub-bed was bear."
Now we come Thirdly to the word "none."
"And so the poor dog got none."
This word in the original stands for two things—first, n-o-n-e, meaning nothing, which was the heretical sense deducted by my opponent, and the other and correct sense being n-u-n—a woman with black veil, generally of tender years; and Mother Hubbard, who intended to supply her lord's table with one small bone, found that instead the bear had secured the bones of a whole nun!
Fourthly and lastly, it is clear from the words "poor dog," that the ogre was poor, but not Mother Hubbard.
No, my hearers, evidently she was rich, evidently she held the purse-strings, and the ogre had stealthily supplied his table with a luxury, and his house with a steward, for which he individually was incapable of providing the means.