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Reason behind those favourite rhymes

As a child, 'Rock-a-Bye-Baby' put you to sleep, 'One, two, buckle my shoe' taught you to count and 'Ring around the Roses' was guaranteed to bring plenty of giggles as you fell around and tumbled down with friends.

We wept as Elton John sang 'Goodbye England's Rose' for Princess Di's funeral, and can still feel Eric Clapton's sorrow at the untimely death of his son as he sings the song born of that heartache'Tears in Heaven'. But have you ever sat back and wondered about the origins of the rhymes of your childhood?

The truth is they date so far back in time that some of them are not even sung as they were originally written, and little is known about the tales they tell. But one thing is for certain. Almost none of the rhymes were originally meant for children.

In warm weather, the Wampanoag Indians of America, who carried their infants in cradleboards on their backs, would suspend the cradles on the limbs of birch trees, so that passing breezes would rock the babies while the mothers tended the maize. The cradles were often decorated with shells and beads. The author of the lullaby, a pilgrim on the Mayflower, was so taken up with this sight that he decided to commit it to rhyme, and from there we have the universally popular lullaby 'Rock-a-bye-baby'.

Contrary to what the rhyme suggests, Little Jack Horner was not such a good boy. The Bishop of Glastonbury sent his steward, Jack Horner, to King Henry VIII with a Christmas gift - a pie in which were hidden the title deeds to twelve manor estates. On his way to the king, Jack popped open the pie and stole the deed to the Manor of Mells, where his descendents are said to live to this day.

Humpty Dumpty wasn't an egg as many versions seem to suggest, or even a very fat man. It was the nickname given to a powerful cannon used during the English Civil War in the 17th century. Mounted on top of a church tower in Colchester, it was hit by the enemy and sent tumbling to the ground. The King's men, the infantry and cavalry troops tried to mend it in vain.

It seems it's not only sailors who have girls in every port. The young girl who waits for her Johnny who promised to buy her trinkets and ribbons and wonders 'Johnny's so long at the fair', had a very long wait indeed. Johnny was a performer in a circus who had a girl in every town. The young girl who penned the rhyme fell in love with Johnny, who left town without a word of farewell.

You've heard of the rhyme, Little Miss Muffet but did you know that she did in fact exist and her name was Patience Moffet. Patience was a 16th century little girl whose father, Dr. Thomas Moffett was an entomologist. Patience unlike her father, was terrified of bugs. One morning while eating breakfast, one of her father's bugs appeared at the dining table, causing her to spill her breakfast as she ran out of the house.

Most of us at some point have read or heard of Henry W. Longfellow and his poems such as a ‘A Psalm of Life’ and ‘Reaper and the Flowers.’ Not many know that he is author of the nursery rhyme often sung to little girls by exasperated mothers. The little girl who had a little curl in the middle of her forehead, and who was sometimes very good and sometimes horrid, was his daughter Edith, who frustrated her father so much when she refused to have her hair curled in a curling iron, that she caused him to write the poem, which he denied for many years, until finally crossly admitting it to some friends.

The falling game 'ring around the rosy, pocketful of posy' actually refers to the great plague of London in 1665. It appeared in the form of a rosy ring like patch that appeared on the skin accompanied with sneezing. People believed that herbs, 'a pocketful of posy' would ward off the plague. Sneezing, 'ashes, ashes' or 'atishoo, atishoo' was a symptom of the disease and those who succumbed to it 'fell down'. Remember the little nut tree with a silver nutmeg and a golden pear. It did in fact exist - in the fifteenth century. The rhyme tells the story about Prince Philippe of France and the King of Spain's daughter who were betrothed at the age of six. The nut tree had a solid gold pear and a solid silver nutmeg tied to it as gifts for the little princess who was coming to visit her future husband. They married at the age of 15.

Although Baa Baa Black Sheep tells about a generous sheep, it is actually a complaint about the burden of paying taxes. In the Middle Ages, peasants were required to give one third of their income to the King, "my master", one third to the fat nobility, "my dame”, leaving only a final third for himself, "the little boy”.

While many berate the rising cost of living, one can only feel sorry for the old woman who had to resort to living in a giant size shoe (couldn't have been very pleasant) since she had so many children.

The shoe actually refers to the British Isles and the old woman was the Parliament who looked after her many colonial children in the British Empire. Parliament whipped her misbehaving children by appointing the reportedly much-hated and cruel James I to the throne.

Who knows, maybe in 300 years time, children will be singing nursery rhymes that just might refer to corrupt politicians and the rising price of bread.
-A.R. R

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