Recently, my daughter asked me to check whether it was really Johney Flynn ๐ฆ who drowned the cat ๐(Ding-Dong-Bell-Pussy-in-the-well fame). All of a sudden, I started wondering how we can be sure of certain facts told in Nursery Rhymes.
I mean, the cat ๐ could certainly not tell who threw her in the well and this Johney Flynn ๐ฆ doesnot seem like a I-cannot-tell-a-lie kind of person. So, it is simply Tommy Stout’s word against his. Yet, through the centuries of this rhyme’s existence (first recorded in 1580 AD), we continue to blame him for being ‘a naughty boy who drowned a poor pussy cat’. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was bullied as a cat drowner and grew up to be an emotionally defunct serial-cat-murderer, seeking revenge for the unjustified blame.
Similarly, people speak of Humpty Dumpty ๐ฅ as a careless egg who sat on a wall and fell. Nobody cared to explain why king’s horses ๐ and men ๐ฎ were involved in trying to put it together. Was he a kin of the king? Was he a victim of a conspiracy? Did someone push him off the wall?
And what about Jack and Gill ๐ซ? How did they fall? How can we merrily sing about someone breaking their head ๐ค?
All these questions have taken away my faith from all the nursery rhymes I have ever read. I fear a conspiracy behind every story now. I am scared someday someone will tell me that Santa Claus ๐ doesnot exist…
I’ve wondered about why Jack and Jill had to go up the hill in the first place. Seems like an unusual place to dig a well…
Did Humpty fall or was he pushed by a disgruntled King’s man on horseback? The same guy who would be in charge of “putting him back together?”
I grew up with a watered-down version of Ding Dong Dell and Jack Stout saved the kitty from drowning.
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Hehehe! It is nice to know I am not the only one who thinks that way.
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Many of those traditional rhymes don’t translate too well into the modern world. Best to just forget your dissection of them, and simply enjoy the songs. ๐
Best wishes, Pete.
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Thanks Pete! There is a part of my brain I cannot shut down. It keeps on drumming these things in my head. It questions everything we take for granted. It is great for my job but I specially hate it when I’m watching movies. No logic, no fun…no movie! ๐
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