Nursery Rhymes

Our childhood memories are filled with nursery rhymes. Kids grow up with their favorite characters like Jack & Jill and Humpty Dumpty. The rhymes have been passed on from generations to generations for over hundreds of years. The sweet melody of the nursery rhymes still rings in our ears as adults. One of my favorite is the ‘Twinkle twinkle little star’. A sweet rhyme that makes the innocent mind of a child wonder. But then, are all rhymes innocent?

BBC reports that a British Royal Hospital for Children team found out that the frequency of nursery rhyme violence was more than 10 times greater than in pre-9pm programmes. And we blame the television for children becoming violent. In fact they aren’t, they are just getting smarter. The world today is much more peaceful than the war ridden last century. Children were in contact with violence through nursery rhymes much before television was invented. Most of which they do not understand, I didn't. What kind of violence you might ask?

Jack with a broken crown, a shattered Humpty Dumpty, a baby falling from a tree top with ‘cradle and all’, a falling London Bridge, an old woman living in a shoe and whipping her children, throwing an old man down the stairs for not saying his prayers, putting one’s wife inside a pumpkin, throwing a pussy cat in the well, and then you have the murdered cock named Robin. I wonder how so much violence found a place in children’s books.

Some of the rhymes are very old, and it is hard to trace back their origin. Most of them are satires with a hidden message of protest against the authorities, or written to remember some of the sad moments of history. ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’ is supposed to be a protest against the two third medieval wool tax. Many have linked the rhyme ‘Goosey Goosey Gander’ to the propaganda against the Catholic Church. Humpty Dumpty is supposed to be a canyon from English civil war that fell down from the wall and broke. ‘Ring a Ring o’ roses’ is supposed to be referring either to the black death of 1348 or the great plague of 1665. There are Indian examples as well like the Bengali one that displayed the fear of the Borgis who came from south riding on horses and looted the villages of the East. There are violent ones as well like the one in which Shyamla has gone for shopping leaving behind her crying sons. The narrator threatened to harm the child if he did not stop crying. I am sure there are some in other regional languages as well. Amazingly, none of these rhymes were meant for the kids, neither is the one written below.

Hicrory Dickory Dock

The mouse ran up the clock.

The clock struck one

The mouse ran down.

In front of him was a cat,

So the mouse hid under a mat.

But the cat was wet and gloomy.

‘He won’t do harm to me’

Rat went to him with worry

And asked, ‘What’s your story?

Pussy cat, where have you been?’

‘I have been to London to see the Queen’.

‘Oh how is the London city?

Is the Queen very pretty?’

‘Could not see her, it was hell,

The London Bridge fell,

Humpty Dumpty sat on its wall,

He also had a great fall.

If you thought that was bad

The next part is more sad.

I was coming back thinking about Queen,

On my way I met Little Johnny Green.

A naughty boy was that,

He likes to drown pussy cat.

I did not do him any harm,

I killed all mouse in the farmer’s barn’.

The last part made the rat weary,

Cat’s can be very scary.

Ignorant of the rat

Continued the cat,

‘Then came up the hill

Little Jack and Jill.

It was Jack who pulled me out,

He was very stout.

Helping me I did not knew

So I screamed mewww.

Jack then fell down.

Might have broken his crown.

I ran down the hill and up the stair,

Till finally I came here.

But now I am very angry,

As my stomach is hungry.

Beg, borrow  or steal

But I need a good meal.

You look juicy and fat,

Come closer to me little rat.”

But the rat was very smart

And before he was hurt

He said, ‘Oh great cat, halt!

You forgot pepper and salt.

In my house I have few

I will bring it only for you.’

Before the cat realized the plan

The rat took deep breath and ran.

Mistake, realized the cat

He then ran after the rat.

Now that was the true story

How Tom met Jerry.

OK, now do not make that face. Yes, yes, I am bad with rhymes!