Goosie Goosie Gander

[snopes]

Comment: Is the nursery rhyme Goosie Goosie Gander ("Goosie goosie gander,
where do you wander? Upstairs and downstairs and in my lady's chamber.
There I met an old man who wouldn't say his prayers, so I took him by the
left leg and threw him down the stairs") about the Spanish Inquisition?

[Stoneage Dinosaur]

I can't find any reference to it being about the Spanish Inquisition, though there are a couple of very fanciful explanations for the rhyme being about prostitutes or protestants:

The Truth About Mother Goose

Goose bumps were a thought to be the bumps and swellings caused by venereal disease, so the first verse of the rhyme would make good sense

The first verse doesn't even mention goose bumps, and gander implies a male goose anyway so the link to prostitutes seems a bit tenuous.

Zealous Protestants & Secret Priest Holes

The moral in Goosey Goosey Gander's lyrics imply that something unpleasant would surely happen to anyone failing to say their prayers correctly - meaning the Protestant Prayers, said in English as opposed to Catholic prayers which were said in Latin!

Except that the rhyme says the old man is thrown down the stairs for not saying his prayers, rather than saying them in Latin.

[Eddylizard]

Originally Posted by Stoneage Dinosaur

The first verse doesn't even mention goose bumps, and gander implies a male goose anyway so the link to prostitutes seems a bit tenuous.

I agree it's fanciful, but I think the author of the piece means that in hir opinion the 'gander' (the old man) is 'goosie' (visibly infected with goosebump-like venereal bumps.)

Or anyone could get creative and say he's goosing (feeling up) and gandering (looking at) the prostitutes as he wanders upstairs and downstairs through the bordello.