DISTURBING NURSERY RHYMES

When I was four years old I was sent to an English nursery school and was taught, as is the English custom, many nursery rhymes. You don’t think very deeply about the meaning of words when you’re four, and anyway, I didn’t know a lot of English back then. It was only later that I discovered the macabre and disturbing origins of these children’s verses.

One of the oldest children’s poems is Baa Baa Black Sheep:

Baa, baa, black sheep, have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full!

One for the master,
One for the dame,
And one for the little boy
Who lives down the lane

This chant is about the Great Custom; a tax on wool that was introduced by Edward I in 1272. Any money made on the selling of a bag of wool would be divided into three; a third would go to the king (the master), a third would go to the church (the dame) and the last third would be left for the farmer (the little boy).

Some of the nursery rhymes we were taught had accompanying actions. One of my favourites was Ring O Ring of Roses in which we all held hands and went round in a circle; afterwards we pretended to smell some flowers and then we all fell down on the floor before, repeating it all again.

Ring a ring o’ roses
A pocketful of posies
a-tishoo, a-tishoo
We all fall down.

 Little did I know the origins of this pleasant piece of poetry! It refers to the Black Death when Plague killed a third of the European population. The ‘rosy rash’, in the form of a ring, describes the skin disease caused by the plague. The posies of herbs were carried as protection to keep away the disease. The end of the poem is self-evident, the children have caught the plague (a-tishoo, a-tishoo) and finally they fall down dead. 

One of my favourites was about a garden full of ‘silver bells and cockleshells’.

Mary Mary quite contrary,

How does your garden grow?

With silver bells and cockleshells

And pretty maids all in a row.

I discovered many years later that Mary was Mary I, Queen of England, commonly known as Bloody Mary, who tortured and executed many Protestants. Queen Mary was quite ‘’contrary’’ because she reintroduced Catholicism as the country’s official religion after the death of her brother King Edward VI. Silver bells and cockleshells are actually instruments of torture; the first was for crushing thumbs by the tightening of a screw and the second was a tool of torment used on men’s genitals! ‘’The pretty maids in a row’’ are thought to be people waiting to be executed. It seems to me that this rhyme is very unsuitable for children!

In 16^th century England, Catholic priests were persecuted. It was forbidden to hold Mass even in the privacy of your own home and priests could be arrested if caught and even executed! Catholic families constructed hiding places, called priest holes, in their homes. Goosey Goosey Gander is a poem that was chanted about these times .

Goosey Goosey Gander, whither shall I wander?

Upstairs and downstairs and in my Lady’s chamber.

There I met an old man who wouldn’t say his prayers,

So I took him by his left leg and threw him down the stairs.

The word ‘’goose’’ refers to a prostitute, and in the rhyme a Catholic priest has been found visiting her despite the vows of celibacy. He ‘’wouldn’t say his prayers’’ or couldn’t say the new English prayers, only knowing the old Latin ones. His punishment is that they ‘’threw him down the stairs’’.

Oranges and Lemons is actually a children’s game with a chant. Children form a row and go under the arch formed by two children holding up their arms. The last child through ‘’has his head chopped off’’ and is out of the game.

Oranges and lemons,
Say the bells of St. Clement's.

You owe me five farthings,
Say the bells of St. Martin's.

When will you pay me?
Say the bells of Old Bailey.

When I grow rich,
Say the bells of Shoreditch.

When will that be?
Say the bells of Stepney.

I do not know,
Says the great bell of Bow.

Here comes a candle to light you to bed,
And here comes a chopper to chop off your head!

The bells from different churches throughout London ‘sing out’ the song which is about a person who owes money. As he can’t pay he is put in the debtor’s prison at Newgate. He is finally executed when the ‘Bells of Old Bailey’ indicate that his time is up. The rhyme finishes with ‘’And here comes a chopper to chop off your head!’’

It always seemed strange to me this English custom of children singing nursery rhymes but even stranger is their sinister meanings. There are hundreds more nursery rhymes with interesting origins. One that always intrigued me was ‘’I had a little nut tree…’’ because it refers to the King of Spain’s daughter.

I had a little nut tree,
Nothing would it bear
But a silver nutmeg,
And a golden pear;
The King of Spain's daughter
Came to visit me,
And all for the sake
Of my little nut tree.

Her dress was made of crimson,
Jet black was her hair,
She asked me for my nut tree
And my golden pear.
I said, "So fair a princess
Never did I see,
I'll give you all the fruit
From my little nut tree."

I wonder what it all means?