Many parallels of this rhyme were collected from different parts of Europe by Mannhardt. In these Humpty-Dumpty appears under various names. They include Hümpelken-Pümpelken, Rüntzelken-Püntzelken, Wirgele-Wargele, Gigele-Gagele, and Etje-Papetje in different parts of Germany, and Lille-Trille and Lille Bulle in Scandinavia. The closest parallel of our rhyme hails from Saxony, and stands as follows:—
Hümpelken-Pümpelken sat up de Bank,
Hümpelken-Pümpelken fël von de Bank;
Do is kën Docter in Engelland
De Hümpelken-Pümpelken kurere kann.
(M., p. 416.)[45]
"H.-P. sat on a bench, H.-P. fell from the bench; there is no doctor in Engelland who can restore H.-P."
In Switzerland the rhyme of Humpty-Dumpty is told of Annebadadeli. The usual answer is an egg, but sometimes it is an icicle or a feeding-bottle.
In Scandinavia they say:—
Lille Bulle trilla' ner a skulle;
Ingen man i detta lan'
Lille Bulle laga kan.
(1849, p. 9.)
"Little B. fell from the shelf, no man in the whole land can restore little B."
This has a further parallel in France in a rhyme which reproduces the German expression Engelland regardless of its intrinsic meaning:—
Boule, boule su l'keyere,
Boule, boule par terre.
Y n'a nuz homme en Angleterre
Pou l'erfaire.[46]
"B. b. on the bench, B. b. on the ground. There is no man in England who can restore him."