The forty doctors of our rhyme who figure also as twice threescore men, reappear in the German rhyme as "no doctor in Engelland," as "no man in all the land" in the Scandinavian rhyme, and as "no man in England" literally translated, of the French version.
In one version of our rhyme those who are powerless to restore what is broken are described as "all the king's soldiers and all the king's men." This expression is also used in the riddle-rhymes on Smoke and on the Well, which are found in our own and in foreign nursery collections.
As round as an apple, as deep as a cup,
And all the king's horses cannot pull it up.
(The Well, 1846, p. 75.)
[Pg 108] As high as a castle, as weak as a wastle,
And all the king's soldiers cannot pull it down.
(Smoke, 1849, p. 144.)
In Swabia they say:—
Es ist etwas in meinem Haus,
Es ziehen es hundert tausend Gäule nicht naus.
(Me., p. 79.)
"There is something in my house, not a hundred thousand horses can pull it out."
The answer is "Smoke." In France they say:—
Qu'est-ce-qui est rond comme un dé,
Et que des chevaux ne peuvent porter.[47]
"What is as round as a thimble, and horses cannot pull it?"