Editing Nursery rhyme (section)

==Meanings of nursery rhymes==
Many nursery rhymes have been argued to have hidden meanings and origins. [[John Bellenden Ker Gawler]] (1764–1842), for example, wrote four volumes arguing that English nursery rhymes were written in "Low Saxon", a hypothetical early form of Dutch. He then "translated" them back into English, revealing in particular a strong tendency to [[anti-clericalism]].<ref name=Wilton2004 />{{sfn|Carpenter|Prichard|1984|p=290}} Many of the ideas about the links between rhymes and historical persons, or events, can be traced back to Katherine Elwes' book ''The Real Personages of Mother Goose'' (1930), in which she linked famous nursery rhyme characters with real people, on little or no evidence. She posited that children's songs were a peculiar form of coded historical narrative, propaganda or covert protest, and did not believe that they were written simply for entertainment.<ref name=Wilton2004 />{{sfn|Opie|2004|p=179}}

{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;"
|-
! Title
! Supposed origin
! Earliest date known
! Meaning supported by evidence
|-
|"[[Arthur o' Bower]]"
|[[King Arthur]] as leader of the [[Wild Hunt]]
|Late 18th century (Britain)
|Conjectural<ref>{{harvnb|Opie|Opie|1997|p=64}}</ref>
|-
|"[[Baa, Baa, Black Sheep]]"
|The [[History of slavery|slave trade]]; medieval wool tax
|c. 1744 (Britain)
|Medieval taxes were much lower than two-thirds. There is no evidence of a connection with slavery.<ref name=Opie1951>{{harvnb|Opie|Opie|1997|p={{page needed|date=August 2019}}}}</ref>
|-
|"[[Doctor Foster (nursery rhyme)|Doctor Foster]]"
|[[Edward I of England]]
|1844 (Britain)
|Given the recent recording, the medieval meaning is unlikely.<ref name=Opie1951 />
|-
|"[[Goosey Goosey Gander]]"
|[[Henry VIII|Henry VIII of England]]
|1784 (Britain)
|No evidence that it is linked to the propaganda campaign against the Catholic Church during the reign of King Henry VIII.<ref>C. Roberts, ''Heavy words lightly thrown: the reason behind the rhyme'' (Granta, 2004), p. 23.</ref>
|-
|"[[The Grand Old Duke of York]]"
|[[Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York|Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York]] in the [[Wars of the Roses]]; [[James II of England]] or [[Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany]]; Flanders campaign of 1794–95.
|1913 (Britain)
|The more recent campaign is more likely, but the first record is very late. The song may be based on a song about the king of France.<ref>E. Knowles, ''Oxford Dictionary of Quotations'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1941, 6th edn., 2004).</ref>
|-
|"[[Hickory Dickory Dock]]"
|[[Exeter Cathedral astronomical clock]]
|1744 (Britain)
|In the 17th century, the clock had a small hole in the door below the face for the resident cat to hunt mice.<ref>Blythe, Ronald. ''Circling Year: Perspectives from a Country Parish''. p. 87. Hymns Ancient and Modern Ltd, 2001</ref>
|-
|"[[Humpty Dumpty]]"
|[[Richard III of England]]; [[Thomas Wolsey|Cardinal Thomas Wolsey]] and a cannon from the [[English Civil War]]
|1797 (Britain)
|No evidence that it refers to any historical character and is originally a riddle found in many European cultures. The story about the cannon is based on a spoof verse written in 1956.<ref name=Opie1951 />{{sfn|Opie|2004|p=176}}
|-
|"[[Jack and Jill (nursery rhyme)|Jack and Jill]]"
|[[Norse mythology]]; [[Charles I of England]]; [[John, King of England|King John of England]]; [[Louis XVI|Louis XVI of France]] and [[Marie Antoinette]]
|1765 (Britain)
|No evidence that it stretches back to the early medieval era and the poem predates the [[French Revolution]].<ref name=Opie1951 />
|-
|"[[Little Boy Blue]]"
|[[Thomas Wolsey]]
|c. 1760 (Britain)
|Unknown; the identification is speculative.<ref name=Opie1951 />
|-
|"[[Little Jack Horner]]"
|[[Dissolution of the monasteries|Dissolution of the Monasteries]]
|1725 (Britain), but the story known from c. 1520
|The rhyme may have been adapted to satirise Thomas Horner who benefited from the Dissolution, but the connection is speculative.<ref name=Opie1951 />
|-
|"[[London Bridge Is Falling Down]]"
|Burial of children in foundations ([[immurement]]; burning of a wooden bridge by [[Vikings]])
|1659 (Britain)
|Unknown, but verse exists in many cultures and may have been adapted to London when it reached England.<ref name=Opie1951 />
|-
|"[[Mary Had a Little Lamb]]"
|An original poem by Sarah Josepha Hale inspired by an actual incident.
|1830 (US)
|As a girl, Mary Sawyer (later Mrs. Mary Tyler) kept a pet lamb, which she took to school one day at the suggestion of her brother.<ref>{{cite book|last=Roulstone|first=John|author2=Mary (Sawyer) and her friends|title=The Story of Mary's Little Lamb|publisher=Mr. & Mrs. Henry Ford|location=Dearborn|year=1928}}</ref>
|-
|"[[Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary]]"
|[[Mary, Queen of Scots]] or [[Mary I of England]]
|c. 1744 (Britain)
|Unknown; all identifications are speculative.<ref name=Opie1951 />
|-
|"[[The Muffin Man]]"
|Street sellers of [[English muffin|muffins]] in Britain.
|c. 1820 (Britain)
|The location of [[Drury Lane]] is a thoroughfare bordering [[Covent Garden]] in London.<ref>[[I. Opie and P. Opie]], ''The Singing Game'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985), pp. 379–82.</ref>
|-
|"[[Old King Cole]]"
|Various early medieval kings and Richard Cole-brook, a [[Reading, Berkshire|Reading]] clothier
|1708–09 (Britain)
|Richard Cole-brook was widely known as King Cole in the 17th century.<ref name=Opie1951 />
|-
|"[[One for Sorrow (nursery rhyme)|One for Sorrow]]"
|Records the superstition (it is not clear whether it has been seriously believed) that seeing [[Eurasian magpie|magpies]] predicts the future, depending on how many are seen
|1780 (Britain)
|The magpie was considered a bird of ill omen in Britain at least as far back as the early 16th century.<ref>I. Opie and M. Tatem, eds, ''A Dictionary of Superstitions'' (Oxford University Press, 1989), pp. 235-6.</ref>
|-
|"[[Ring a Ring o' Roses]]"
|[[Black Death]] (1348) or [[Great Plague of London|The Great Plague of London]] (1665)
|1880 (Britain)
|No evidence that the poem has any relation to the plague. The "plague" references are not present in the earliest versions.<ref name=Wilton2004>D. Wilton, I. Brunetti, ''Word myths: debunking linguistic urban legends'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press US, 2004), pp. 24–25.</ref><ref name=Opie1951 />
|-
|"[[Rock-a-bye Baby]]"
|The Egyptian god [[Horus]]; Son of [[James II of England]] preceding the [[Glorious Revolution]]; Native American childcare; anti-[[Jacobitism|Jacobite]] satire
|c. 1765 (Britain)
|Unknown; all identifications are speculative.<ref name=Opie1951 />
|-
|"[[Sing a Song of Sixpence]]"
|[[Dissolution of the monasteries|Dissolution of the Monasteries]] by [[Henry VIII]], with [[Catherine of Aragon]] representing the queen, and [[Anne Boleyn]] the maid.
|c. 1744 (Britain)
|Unknown; all identifications are speculative.<ref name=Opie7>{{harvnb|Opie|Opie|1997|pp=394–95}}</ref>
|-
|"[[There was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe]]"
|Queen [[Caroline of Ansbach]], wife of King [[George II of Great Britain]]; Elizabeth Vergoose of Boston.
|1784 (Britain)
|Unknown; all identifications are speculative.<ref name=Opie1951 />
|-
|"[[Three Blind Mice]]"
|[[Mary I of England]]
|c. 1609 (Britain)
|Unknown; the identification is speculative.<ref name=Opie1951 />
|-
|"[[Cock Robin|Who Killed Cock Robin?]]"
|[[Norse mythology]]; [[Robin Hood]]; [[William II of England]]; [[Robert Walpole]]; Ritual bird [[Animal sacrifice|sacrifice]]
|c. 1744 (Britain)
|The story, and perhaps rhyme, dates from at least the later medieval era, but all identifications are speculative.<ref name=Opie1951 />
|}