[1158] in Humor
HUMOR FOLLOWUP: First it was Cakes & Ale, now it's Humpty Dumpty
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Andrew A. Bennett)
Wed Oct 25 12:47:35 1995
To: humor@MIT.EDU
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 1995 12:42:55 EDT
From: "Andrew A. Bennett" <abennett@MIT.EDU>
Still, I *am* learning things...
-Drew
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 1995 16:21:08 +0000 (GMT)
From: Espacionaute Spiff domine! <MATOSSIAN@aries.colorado.edu>
From: bostic@bsdi.com (Keith Bostic)
From: good@pixar.com (Craig Good)
If I recall correctly from my reading of "The Real Personages Behind
Mother Goose*" many years ago, Humpty Dumpty was King Richard of "My
kingdom for a horse!" fame. The verse describes his fall in battle and
the inability of his army to right things.
In the days before mass media, nursery rhymes were political satire. For
example, Little Miss Muffet was Mary, Queen of Scots and the spider was
John Knox. In "Hey diddle, diddle, the cat and the fiddle" the feline
character was Queen Elizabeth, who was wont to hold dances at the palace.
Interestingly, "The Spoon" was the real title of the girl who was the
queen's food taster, and "The Dish" was the man in charge of the royal
dinnerware. Elizabeth's plate minder eloped with her food taster, so
in a very literal sense the Dish ran away with the Spoon.
*I'm pretty sure I have that title right. It was published around 1926
as I recall.
--Craig
good@pixar.com
Amore, Mangiare, Famiglia, Pace.
