Nursery Rhymes

We sing nursery rhymes for our kids, but have we ever noticed that in most of the rhymes, somebody gets hurt ?

HUMPTY DUMPTY
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall,
All the King's Horses and all the King's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again

GOOSEY GOOSEY GANDER
Goosey, goosey, gander,
Whither dost thou wander?
Upstairs and downstairs
And in my lady's chamber.

There I met an old man
Who wouldn't say his prayers;
I took him by the left leg,
And threw him down the stairs


JACK & JILL

Jack and Jill went up the hill,
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down,
And broke his crown;
And Jill came tumbling after. 

ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE
One, two, three, four, five,
Once I caught a fish alive,
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten,
Then I let go again.

Why did you let it go?
Because it bit my finger so.
Which finger did it bite?
This little finger on the right.

RING A RING A ROSES
Ring a Ring A Roses
A pocketful of posies
"Ashes, Ashes"
We all fall down!

DING DONG BELL
Ding-dong bell,
pussy in the well. 
Who put her in?
Little Johnny Flynn

3 BLIND MICE
Three blind mice. Three blind mice.
See how they run. See how they run.
They all ran after the farmer's wife,
Who cut off their tails with a carving knife,
Did you ever see such a sight in your life,
As three blind mice

ITS RAINING , ITS POURING
It's raining, it's pouring
The old man is snoring
He went to bed and he bumped his head
And couldn't get up in the morning 

LITTLE MISS MUFFET
Little Miss Muffet, sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey;
Along came a spider,
Who sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away 

LONDON BRIDGE
London Bridge bridge is falling down, down
Falling down down, falling down, down
London Bridge bridge is falling down, down
My fair lady.
Take a key key and lock padlock her up,
Lock padlock her up, lock padlock her up,
Take a key key and lock padlock her up,
My fair lady. 

This is the worst of all:
ROCK A BYE BABY
Rock-a-bye, baby,
In the tree top.
When the wind blows,
The cradle will rock.
When the bough breaks,
The cradle will fall,
And down will come baby,
Cradle and all


  I learnt that in those days,  people were not able to express themselves freely, so nursery rhymes were cryptic messages to express their feelings towards government, politics, etc.