Gone are the days when all we had were Mother Goose, Sesame Street and Kidsongs later on. My mum said that I was a very difficult kid but all she had to do was pop in the Mother Goose tape, prop me up in front of the TV and she would have some moments of peace for herself.
Plus I really learnt so much from those!
In fact I'm still very much intrigued by nursery rhymes, but of course, on a whole new level. As I grew up, I found out that those cheerful songs we used to sing over and over again weren't originally meant to be that way. I mean most of us know that London Bridge is about the Great Fire of London and Ring Around The Rosie is connected to the Bubonic Plague. But there are worse ones!!!
Heard of Mary Mary Quite Contrary?
Mary Mary quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells
And pretty maids all in a row.
Chippy chippy song isn't it.
Think again.
The Mary alluded to in this traditional English nursery rhyme is reputed to be Mary Tudor, or Bloody Mary, who was the daughter of King Henry VIII. The garden is an allusion to graveyards which were increasing in size with those who dared to challenge her.
The silver bells and cockle shells referred to in the Nursery Rhyme were colloquialisms for instruments of torture. The 'silver bells' were thumbscrews which crushed the thumb between two hard surfaces by the tightening of a screw. The 'cockleshells' were believed to be instruments of torture which were attached to the genitals!
The 'maids' were a device to behead people called the Maiden. Beheading a victim was fraught with problems. It could take up to 11 blows to actually sever the head, the victim often resisted and had to be chased around the scaffold. Margaret Pole (1473 - 1541), Countess of Salisbury did not go willingly to her death and had to be chased and hacked at by the Executioner. These problems led to the invention of a mechanical instrument (now known as the guillotine) called the Maiden - shortened to Maids in the Mary Mary Nursery Rhyme.
Crazy shit right?
I think this is one of the worst stories I've come across that was made into a rhyme. Most of the rhymes are about the political and historical changes in England in the olden days. The famous Humpty Dumpty is about the English Civil War, Three Blind Mice also about Bloody Mary, the one about the old woman who lived in a shoe has something to do with King George who began the men's fashion for wearing white powdered wigs (LOL LOL)...
Of course there are many nursery rhymes which are genuinely merry, and others are simply nonsensical and have no historical origin whatsoever. But still! I'm glad we were all born innocent and remained that way till a certain age... otherwise nursery rhymes would have really been horror stories!
I still think that children should be exposed to these rhymes. They're really good for a child's development okay. Look at me. HAHAHAHA. Eh but it's true don't you think? Now that we're older we find out the true meaning behind those rhymes so we're actually improving our general knowledge righhhhhhht? LOL.
OK la the thing is I'm just going all out to avoid revising for my exam. =(
But now that I'm done with this post I really have got nothing else to do... so... no excuses! Study study study!
OH and may I randomly add that chocolate chip cookie dough pop tarts and coffee are my best companions at the study table. LOVE.
