Alphabe Thursday N is for Nancy Etticote in a white petticote

Little Nancy Etticoat,

With a white petticoat,

And a red nose;

She has no feet or hands,

The longer she stands

The shorter she grows.

The answer to this riddle which has been posed for at least three centuries, is a ‘lighted candle’.  Nancy Etticoat has been called Old Nancy Netty Cote, Netty Cote, Nanny Goat, and little Hetty Cote.

‘I have a little boy in a white cote the biger he is the leser he goes, is also known.