mother goose

+---------- Bizarre Facts About Nursery Rhymes ------------+  

Humpty Dumpty: According to Katherine Thomas in The Real Personages of Mother Goose, Humpty Dumpty is 500 years old and refers to King Richard III of England. In 1483 his reign ended when he fell from his mount during battle; he was slain as he stood shouting "My kingdom for a horse!"  

Humpty Dumpty: King Richard's fall made him Humpty Dumpty. Originally the last line was "Could not set Humpty up again" - which can be interpreted as either putting him back on his horse, or back on the throne. 

Old King Cole: There was actually a King Cole in Britain during the third century. No one knows much about him, but historians agree that he's the subject of the poem.  

Jack be nimble: For centuries, jumping over a candlestick was a method of fortune-telling in England. According to The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes: "A candlestick with a lighted candle was placed on the floor and if, when jumping over it, the light was not extinguished, good luck was supposed to follow during the coming year."  

Ring around the roses: According to James Leasor in The Plague and the Fire, this "had its origins in the London Plague of 1664. Rosy refers to the rosy rash of plague...The posies were herbs and spices carried to ward off the disease; sneezing was a common symptom of those close to death. In the Annotated Mother Goose, the authors note that the third line is often given as a sneezing noise ("At-choo, at-choo") and that "'We all fall down' was, in a way, exactly what happened."