253 Dark Side

The Dark Side of 
Five Popular Nursery Rhymes

“Ring around a rosy, a pocket full of poseys…we all fall down.” 

As a young teacher I found this rhyme to be a simple game, a memory device, and a way to teach rhyming words. The whole class participates by holding hands and moving in a circle until the 

words “we all fall down.” Lots of
laughter and then get up and do it again. Even easier than “Duck, Duck, Goose” with its chasing on one person as goose chasing a poor duck.

It seems from a number of sources (cited at the end) that this nursery rhyme is about the black plague of London in the 1660s. One of the first symptoms of the plague was red welts around one’s mouth. The poseys (herbs and flowers) were stuffed in the children’s pockets to cover the smell of their oozing pustules. Falling down meant one died from the plague. Seems hard to believe that this was a game in the 1660s.

Another rhyme from the dark side “Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush.” Again, back in the mid-1660s at a women’s prison, the women were exercised by holding hands and circling a mulberry tree until they were so tired that they would willingly go to bed. Not only that but the toxin in mulberry is said to cause nerve damage and hallucinations. Again, another strange story.

Let’s look at “Rock-a-bye Baby.” I wondered why anyone would put a baby in a treetop. It seems that so many babies were born dead or not breathing well, the babies were tied to a tree branch in hopes that the swaying of the branch would make the baby breathe. 

Again, back in the 1600s, it seems the song was in hopes the James II’s (1685-1688) child would die so there would not be a Catholic heir to the throne. Okay, so now we are into politics to sing our babes to sleep.

And why did “Jack and Jill” go up the hill? It seems King Charles I (1645-1649) wanted to change the taxes on liquid measures. Parliament was not happy with their king and this was a particularly easy law to veto. 

By falling down with the bucket of water, Jack had very little water and the tax would be lower. Of course, we all remember our elementary days of wondering if Jill pushed Jack down the hill because of his “behavior.”

Finally, “Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary” and her garden. I was shocked to learn that contrary in the 1500s meant what we now call a psychopath. Although the rhyme sounds like a gardening handbook, it was originally directed at Queen Mary I (“Bloody Mary) who executed many non-Catholics.  The flower names supposedly referred to torture methods. Cockleshells removed private parts on men and silver bells were thumbscrews. The pretty maids were all those invited to the executions.

Do we thank Mother Goose for cleaning these rhymes up and putting them to tunes? I like to think the old dark meanings are gone and these are sweet ditties for our babes.

(information from wonderopolis.org, mentalfloss.com/article #55035, commons.Wikipedia.org (May 29, 2021) and Google answers to inquiry of dates of reigning monarchs)

Enjoy your Memorial Day and stay safe. 

                                                     Glenne