When I heard about Humpty Dumpty I wondered did he fall or was he pushed? ~
It’s a fair question, as we’ll see in a few paragraphs. But before we get to the Stephen King block, here’s a traditional rhyme that’s one of my favorites. Content in brackets provides contemporary adjectives to replace those which are centuries-old and possibly ambiguous:
Monday’s child is fair of face, Tuesday’s child is full of grace [internal beauty]. Wednesday’s child is full of woe, Thursday’s child has far to go [either heavy workload or lots of travel – sources don’t agree]. Friday’s child is loving and giving, Saturday’s child works hard for a living. And the child that is born on the Sabbath day is bonny and blithe, and good and gay [blessed].
Sweet enough, yes? And so handy as a tool to teach youngsters the days of the week. Rhymes do that. In this case and others, however, I’m wondering if the rhyme is forced in place of the original intent. I say this because the sweet one wasn’t the only version. Some of the prophecies below are more than a little negative.
If born on a:
- Sunday – anxiety-free and handsome.
- Monday – certain to be murdered.
- Tuesday – grow up to be sinful and perverse.
- Wednesday – waspish in temper.
- Thursday – peaceful and easy disposition.
- Friday – silly, crafty, a thief, and a coward, and would not live longer than middle age.
- Saturday – deeds would be renowned and live long.
*No, I don’t normally rely on Wikipedia.
The Monday's Child rhyme was the only bait and switch, right?
Not so much. The other side of nursery rhymes can be on par with a horror movie. However, according to multiple sites, some of the verses were written as a type of code – or subliminal message. I picked one source to quote – Classical Music. Here are a few examples.
- Three Blind Mice – consider the possibility that the mice are Protestant loyalists plotting against the Queen. She is the farmer’s wife, taking her revenge. More on that in the video below, starting at 4:23.
- Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary – another one with the Protestants taking a beating (or worse) from a queen they do not support. The gardens are graveyards and the pretty maids are women lined up for execution. More on that in the video below, starting at 3:30.
- Humpty Dumpty – Speculation is that the reference is to a massive cannon the Loyalists used against Parliamentarians. One shot fired created so much recoil it damaged the wall it was perched on and fell to the ground, irreparably damaged.
We cannot know whether these current-century hypotheses are based in fact, but they could be. Perhaps using children’s verses was a way for the Crown’s enemies to hide–and protest–in plain sight. If so, I hope only the adults understood the content. Pretty brutal themes in some cases.
Is it a crime to hide a message in a rhyme?
It’s true that sometimes a story is just a story. However, many of the nursery rhymes we learned as children were passed down centuries ago during times of extreme social and political unrest. Nursery rhymes were not the only examples of spreading messages that might otherwise be intercepted. Some say The Twelve Days of Christmas was a way for the church to proclaim the gospel. Perhaps that’s true.
As with the nursery rhymes, I can neither confirm nor deny, but I have immense respect for any content creator who has content still floating around for hundreds of years. And to have it being sliced and diced to determine whether it’s all in code? That’s a true literary gift. I will never again look at silly rhymes the same way.
And in the spirit of clear communication, I promise you’ll never have to wonder what I’m trying to say. 😉 That is:
No matter if I’m trite at most
And even if my topic is dry as toast,
If you continue to read
You’ll always succeed
In knowing exactly what I mean in my posts.
Yes. I know. I’ll stick with prose. But if you want to learn more, take a look at the video. Understand, though, that some origins are the stuff of which nightmares are made. Methinks we’re more sensitive than 16th century Europeans. You decide.
Ring around the rosy is about the plague–yuck.
I never recall children’s rhymes. Had I had an inkling of all the hidden negative intent, I would been an ardent student!