Nursery Rhymes and Their Meaning

The real meaning of these Nursery Rhymes.   Baa Baa Black Sheep Baa, Baa, black sheep, have you any wool?  Yes, sir, yes sir, three bags full.    One for my Master,  One for my Dame,  And one for the little boy who lives down the lane.    This rhyme refers to taxes. During the Middle Ages peasants were required to give one-third of thier income to their "master"--the King; one-third to the "dame"--the nobility; and the final third for themselves--the "little boy."       Hickory Dickory Dock Hickory, dickory, dock, the mouse ran up the clock. The clock struck one, And down he come.  Hickory, dickory dock.   Patrick Rooney says that the "hickory, dickory, dock" chant is just an example of an onnomatopoeia.  An onomatopoeia is a word that imitates a sound. Patrick says that "hickory, dickory, dock" is the sound an "old grandfather clock with hiccups" makes.        Hot cross buns!  Hot cross buns! Hot-cross buns!  One a penny, two a penny,  Hot-cross buns!  Hot-cross buns!  Hot-cross buns!  If ye have no daughters,  give them to your sons.  In the Dictionary of Phrase and Fable "hot-cross buns" is defined this way: "In regard to 'hot-cross buns' on Good Friday, it may be stated that the Greeks offered to Apollo, Diana, Hecate, and the Moon, cakes with 'horns.' Such a cake  was called a bous, and (it is said) never grew mouldy. The cross' symbolized the four quarters of the moon."     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.  During the English Civil War (1642-49) "Humpty Dumpty" as  the name for a powerful cannon. It was mounted atop the St.     Marys Wall Church in Colchester to defend the city against seige in the summer of 1648.  The church tower was hit by the enemy  and the top was blown off. "Humpty Dumpty" fell off and tumbled to the ground. The King's men tried to fix him  but to no avail.        Jack and 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.  This source comes that Jill, in earlier versions, used to be Gill" and was depicted as a boy. In the Norse Mythology the names were Hjuki and Bil. This rhyme deals with the markings on the full moon. The two boys went up a hill to draw water from a well and were captured by Mani, the God of the moon. When the moon is full two children with a bucket on a pole can be seen.       Mary had a little lamb Mary had a little lamb  It's fleece as white as snow.  And everywhere that Mary went  That lamb was sure to go.  It followed her to school one day,  Which was against the rules,  It made the children laugh and play, To see a lamb at school.  Mary may have been a real person who attended Redstone Schoolhouse here in America. It is known that a Mary Sawyer nursed a sick lamb back to health. In return the lamb became her pet and followed her everywhere--including to school. Sarah Josepha Hale may be the actual author of this rhyme; which would have been written in 1830.      Three Blind Mice Three blind mice! 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?  The page A Telltale Tail Tall Tale says that this rhyme is about Queen Mary I of England (the "farmer's wife"). Most of her estates were, indeed, rmland. She was upset with many of her noblemen (the "mice") but burned them at the stake instead of cutting them.

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