The truth behind Mother Goose

_Elsa_

Upon arriving at home, Tiffi gets herself something to eat and drink and then takes her library book into the bedroom.   As she goes through the book quite a few nursery rhymes are familiar. She closes the book because it’s now Google time! 

She opens up her laptop and starts googling. The truth behind Mother Goose ………. She begins to read the article.

‘The simple and seemingly innocent nursery rhymes we grew up reciting; hide a twisted and dark history. Mother Goose’s ulterior social and political agendas are cleverly masked in the guise of playful nursery rhymes. Pick up a copy of The Real Mother Goose and reread the familiar childhood stories with eyes wide open.

Let’s examine five of the most popular and creepy rhymes with some historical context: Three Blind Mice, Mary Mary, Quite Contrary, Humpty Dumpty, Baa, Baa, Black Sheep, There Was an Old Women; found in, The Real Mother Goose illustrated by Blanche Fisher Wright.

THREE BLIND MICE

Three blind mice!

See how they run!

They all ran after the farmer’s wife,

Who cut off their tails with a carving knife.

Did you ever see such a thing in your life,

As three blind mice?

 

Meaning & Origin - The farmer’s wife, Queen Mary I of England a.k.a. Bloody Mary, beheaded three mice, representing noblemen, who plotted against her aggressive efforts to spread Catholicism throughout England in the 1500s. 

MARY, MARY, QUITE CONTRARY

Mary, Mary, quite contrary,

How does your garden grow?

With silver bells and cockle-shells,

And pretty maids all of a row.

Meaning & Origin - Three theories of “Mary’s” identity include: Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary the Queen of Scots, and Queen Mary I of England. Since the earliest account of this tale come from England, Mary the Queen of England or Bloody Mary; rises as the most likely theory. The garden is Mary’s graveyard full of maidens; decapitated by the maiden or guillotine. Her silver bells and cockleshells can also be traced back to 16th-century torture devices. 

HUMPTY DUMPTY

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

All the King’s horses, and all the King’s men,

Couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together again.

Meaning & Origin - Humpty Dumpty, through depicted as an egg in many books and illustrations; actually represents a mortar during the siege of Colchester that fell from a wall next to St. Mary’s Church. After the mortar fell from the wall the King’s Horses, the calvary, and all the King’s men, the soldiers, couldn’t put the mortar back together thus ultimately resulting in losing the war. ’ (Source) 

Let’s continue - More nursery rhymes and their meanings

Start at the beginning – The story of Mother Goose