Nursery rhymes are often political in nature though, or started as cruel playground chants about real events. Not so much made for children as hijacked by them or create by them. Children too can be vicious and cruel.

I thought I'd share some of the best, the most gruesome of the nursery rhymes, most of them became favourites and I read them with glee to DD.
Of course you have all heard "Fee Fi fo fum.."
And then there is rock a by baby where a baby falls from a tree, or the maid that has her nose pecked off in Sing a song of sixpence. In Ding, Dong, Dell a cat is flung into a well and nearly drowned...
But there are more, so many more, so let me share some childhood memories.
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Baking children in pies, OK then... |
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Cats beating and scratching each other so much there is only fur left... |
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A personal favourite due to the awful imagry and the bizarreness of the poem |
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And back to eating children again, I adore this rhyme and often sang it to DD with her name in place of Davy, while pretending to eat her! |
I saw someone else had a similar post a while back, told us the origins of some of the more popular nursery rhymes. I can't remember any off the top of my head but they were awful!! X
ReplyDeleteLike Ring a Roses being about plague? Maybe we could write one about ebola?
ReplyDeleteI hadn't read the Davy Dumpling one but love it! Will be singing it next time I gobble up Baby D's chunky baby thighs! Lol
ReplyDeleteYES! It's perfect for that! :)
ReplyDeleteI have always wondered about the suitability of nursery rhymes but they are so loved and we all know them so I have read to my baby.
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