The ORIGIN OF NURSERY RHYMES!

A wise old owl, the lyrics

A wise old owl lived in an oak

The more he saw the less he spoke

The less he spoke the more he heard.

Why can't we all be like that wise old bird?

The origins and history of this nursery rhyme is vague but its meaning

is not, it basically would be told to a child in an attempt

to instil the wisdom of observing and keeping quiet! The association of the lyrics of this nursery rhyme derive from the saying 'a wise old owl' based on an owl's behaviour of watching and patiently waiting when hunting its prey

"Children should be seen and not heard!"

Post edited by: morningglory/oldglory, at: 06/07/2008 23:38

Goosie goosie gander where shall I wander,

Upstairs, 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.

Obscure morality Nursery Rhyme

Goosie, goosie gander - an attention grabber to a nursery rhyme which uses alliteration in the lyrics designed to intrigue a child. The 'lady's chamber' is a room that no longer exists today but English history refers to a high born lady having her own chamber, which was once referred to as a solar. The origins of the nursery rhyme are said to date back in history to the 16th century and refer to Catholic priests hiding in 'Priest Holes' ( very small secret rooms found in great houses in England) to avoid persecution from zealous Protestants who were completely against the old Catholic religion. If caught the priest and also members of any family found harbouring them would be executed. The moral to the story and in the lyrics is to point out that something unpleasant would occur to anyone found not saying their prayers!

Mary, Mary quite contrary,

How does your garden grow?

With silver bells and cockle shells

And pretty maids all in a row.

The silver bells and cockle shells referred to in the Nursery Rhyme were colloquialisms for instruments of torture. The 'silver bells' were thumbscrews which crushed the thumb between two hard surfaces by the tightening of a screw. The 'cockleshells' were believed to be instruments of torture which were attached to the genitals!

The 'maids' were a device to behead people called the Maiden. Beheading a victim was fraught with problems. It could take up to 11 blows to actually sever the head, the victim often resisted and had to be chased around the scaffold. Margaret Pole (1473 - 1541), Countess of Salisbury did not go willingly to her death and had to be chased and hacked at by the Executioner. These problems led to the invention of a mechanical instrument (now known as the guillotine) called the Maiden - shortened to Maids in the Mary Mary Nursery Rhyme. The Maiden had long been in use in England before Lord Morton, regent of Scotland during the minority of James VI, had a copy constructed from the Maiden which had been used in Halifax in Yorkshire.

So the entire rhyme is a bloody verse dedicated to Bloody Queen Mary and her torturous ways.

Ring a ring o' rosies

A pocketful of posies

"Atishoo, Atishoo"

We all fall down!

Origins in English History

The lyrics to this nursery rhyme has its origins as a children's ring game. The period in history dates back to the great plague of London in 1665 (bubonic plague). The symptoms of the plague included a raised red rash on the skin (Ring a ring o' rosies) and violent sneezing (Atishoo, Atishoo) A pouch of sweet smelling herbs or posies were carried due to the belief that the disease was transmitted by bad smells. The death rate was over 60% and the plage was only halted by the Great Fire of London in 1666 which killed the rats which carried the disease which had been transmitting it to water sources.