At no small expense to myself, I traveled to Engalnd recently and went to the Tower of London. There, one of the Yeoman of the Guard explained the history of the story Humpty Dumpty. It was a political ryme from the time of Richard the III. As anyone who knows British history or Shakespeare can tell you, Richard III was somewhat deforemed. In fact, he had a hunched back and so, Humpty Dumpty. After the fall of this kings army at Bosworth field, all his troops could not save him or his kingdom. (“A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!”) He did in fact have the greatest of falls. This rhyme goes along with other rather sick rymes of England such as “Ring around the rosey (a sign of the black death or plaque) …all fall down” . The idea of the egg was merely for Alice in Wonderland’s use of the rhyme.
Could be, could be. Or, it could be a story that the yeoman made up.
Dannyny said
Glad you could make it to the board.
This old saw has been done to death. It’s really isn’t true.
http://www.snopes.com/language/literary/rosie.htm is the “snopes” website that debunks urban legends. Bookmark it as a favorite place. We have probably done this many times on this board but I don’t want to tax our server anymore than necessary.
Welcome to the SDMB, Dannyny. A link to the staff report is appreciated. Providing one can be as simple ase pasting the URL into your post, making sure to leave a blank space on either side of it. Like so: http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mhumpty.html