This interpretation provided the basis for a verse reply from “Philo-Rhithmus” of Edinburgh

Why the deuce do you give yourselves so much vexation,
And puzzle your brains with a long calculation
Of the number of cats, with their kittens and sacks,
Which went to St Ives, on the old women’s backs,
As you seem to suppose? — Don’t you see that the cunning
Old Querist went only? — The rest were all coming.
But grant the wives went too, — as sure’s they were married,
Eight only could go, — for the rest were all carried.

As I was going to St Ives - Wikipedia

Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As

“As I was going to St Ives” (Roud 19772) is a traditional English-language nursery rhyme in the form of a riddle.