Tweedledum and Tweedledee

Common versions of the nursery rhyme include:

:Tweedledum and Tweedledee

:    Agreed to have a battle;

:For Tweedledum said Tweedledee

:    Had spoiled his nice new rattle.

:Just then flew down a monstrous crow,

:    As black as a tar-barrel;

:Which frightened both the heroes so,

:    They quite forgot their quarrel.I. Opie and P. Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), p. 418.

The words "Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum" make their first appearance in print as names applied to the composers George Frideric Handel and Giovanni Bononcini in "one of the most celebrated and most frequently quoted (and sometimes misquoted) epigrams", satirising disagreements between Handel and Bononcini,{{Citation|last=Knowles|first=Elizabeth KnowlesElizabeth|title=Tweedledum and Tweedledee|date=2006-01-01|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198609810.001.0001/acref-9780198609810-e-7335|work=The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|doi=10.1093/acref/9780198609810.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-860981-0|access-date=2020-08-17|url-access=subscription}} written by John Byrom (1692–1763):C.Edgar Thomas: Some Musical Epigrams and Poems, The Musical Times, November 1, (1915), p. 661. in his satire, from 1725.

:Some say, compar'd to Bononcini

:That Mynheer Handel's but a Ninny

:Others aver, that he to Handel

:Is scarcely fit to hold a Candle

:Strange all this Difference should be

:'Twixt Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee!John Byrom: Epigram on the Feuds between Handel and Bononcini, The Poems, The Chetham Society 1894–1895. Source: Literature Online.

Although Byrom is clearly the author of the epigram, the last two lines have also been attributed to Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope. While the familiar form of the rhyme was first printed in Original Ditties for the Nursery (c. 1805), Byrom may have drawn on an existing rhyme.M. Gardner, ed., The Annotated Alice (New York: Meridian, 1963).

The characters are perhaps best known from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass and what Alice Found There (1871). Carroll, having introduced two fat little men named Tweedledee and Tweedledum, quotes the nursery rhyme, which the two brothers then go on to enact. They agree to have a battle, but never have one. When they see a monstrous black crow swooping down, they take to their heels. The Tweedle brothers never contradict each other, even when one of them, according to the rhyme, "agrees to have a battle". Rather, they complement each other's words, which led John Tenniel to portray them as twins in his illustrations for the book.

• Tweedledee and Tweedledum appear in Disney's 1951 version of Alice in Wonderland,J. Beck, The Animated Movie Guide (Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2005), p. 11. both voiced by J. Pat O'Malley, and representing the sun and moon as they tell Alice the story of The Walrus and the Carpenter, and the first stanza of the poem called, You Are Old, Father William before Alice quietly leaves to find the White Rabbit. They were seen again at the end of the film during the chase. The Disney versions of the characters later appeared in the Disney television series House of Mouse and one of them in the final scene of Who Framed Roger Rabbit.{{cite book |first=S. |last=Griffin |title=Tinker Belles and Evil Queens: the Walt Disney Company from the Inside Out |location=New York |publisher=New York University Press |year=2000 |page=[https://archive.org/details/tinkerbellesevil00grif_0/page/228 228] |isbn=0-8147-3122-8 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/tinkerbellesevil00grif_0/page/228 }}
• Tweedledee and Tweedledum appear in Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, portrayed by Ben Cotton and Matty Finochio. They appear as the Red Queen's servants where they started out working for the Red King. While Tweedledum is shown to be loyal to the Red Queen, Tweedledee is shown to be loyal to Jafar.{{cite web|url=http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/once-upon-a-time-in-wonderland/cast/556800/|title=Once Upon a Time in Wonderland|website=TVGuide.com}}

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Category:Animated duos

Category:Fictional duos

Category:Fiction about rivalry

Category:Fictional twins

Category:Lewis Carroll characters

Category:Literary duos