Mother Goose Was an Undercover Agent!

[Eimi]

Ok, not really, but have you ever heard about where some of our nursery rhymes came from?  It's amazing!  So many of our nursery rhymes came from some dark moment in history that people couldn't complain about openly, so they wrote playful little rhymes with a wink and a nod and they couldn't get into trouble for stating their opinion about current events because it was a harmless little ditty.

I was discussing this with my English club last night.  Did you know Humpty Dumpty was a bronze canon that sat on top of a fortress wall that collapsed after a barage of a seiging force during one of Englands civil wars and the King's men tried to lift it but couldn't get it back up and working?

And Three Blind mice were three Protestant nobelmen who tried to oppose Catholic Queen Mary (wife of the King of Spain who owned several farms, and therefore is refered to as the Farmer's Wife).  She didn't just cut off their tails, though, she burned them at the stake as heritics XD

Of course, people have always claimed that Ring Around the Rosy is a reference to the Black Plague (which first symptoms is ring-shaped red rashes, and they thought disease was transmited by bad smells so they carried flowers to counter act it)...

Isn't it amazing how these stories survived as CHILDREN's Rhymes?  I love it XD

[Paula]

I didn't know any of that. Interesting. And they've been translated to finnish too!

"Tyyris tyllerö muurille kipusi, tyyris tyllerö muurilta lipesi..."

[emma]

The 'Grand Old Duke of York' is said to be based on the events of the brief invasion of Flanders by Prince Frederick, Duke of York and the second son of King George III and Commander-in-Chief of the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars.  He had one stunning victory (When they were up) attempted to attack somewhere in Flanders only to be defeated (when they were down) and called home.

"Old Mother Hubbard" Some say that this has to do with Thomas, Cardinal Wolsey refusing Henry VIII's divorce from Queen Catherine of Aragon.

[Amanda N]

Mistress Mary, quilt Contrary, how does your garden grow?
With Silver bells and cockle shells and pretty maids all in a row.

I've heard several interprestations to Mary queen of Scots to a cousin of hers and she got beheaded.  Let's see...

I've heard that Little Jack Horner was about a fellow taking a pie to a King of England.  Back then gifts were hidden in pies, but this fellow took out the gift that his Lord was sending and the king just got a pie.

Remember, remember the fifth of November is about Guy Fawkes.

London Bridge is about the various times the Bridge has been damaged.

Here's a site with some info: http://www.rhymes.org.uk/

[Eimi]

I heard "Mary Mary quite contrary" was about Mary, the Bloody Queen and how she used to torture the Protestants (silver bells being thumb screws and cockle shells being a torture device that clamped onto a man's genitals...)

[Amanda N]

There's several different stories.  Who knows which one is the real one?