Humpty Dumpty is a short but popular nursery rhyme, with just one stanza: Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men, Couldn’t put Humpty together again.
It is a common belief that Humpty Dumpty is a human-like large egg. Illustrations accompanying the poem commonly show a large egg fallen on the ground, and a couple of soldiers trying to pull him upright by holding him from either side. Nothing in the rhyme, however, hints that Humpty Dumpty was an egg. The rhyme was originally a riddle and the listener would be asked to guess what Humpty Dumpty was. An egg was an obvious answer since it could easily fall off a wall and, once broken, could not be put together again.
Now, what is an egg doing sitting on a wall? Some historians of English nursery rhymes believe that the puzzle used to be paired with a game played by little girls. They would sit on the ground and pretend that they were sitting on a wall, holding their skirts down tightly. Then, they would deliberately fall by tumbling backwards. The game was to try and recover their balance without letting go of their dresses. Thus, the little girls would be rolling around like an egg. The explanation for the last two lines was that, at the time, the king was the most powerful person in England. So, if the king’s armies failed to put Humpty Dumpty together again, the task was considered to be impossible.
There is a theory that gives
a different explanation of who Humpty Dumpty was. In 1648, the second English civil war took place between the supporters of the king, Charles I, and those of the parliament. A royalist army was attacked by
a parliamentary army near the town of Colchester in Essex, England. The royalist army took refuge behind the town’s walls and the parliamentary army laid a siege. During the fighting, the royalist army raised a cannon into the belfry or bell tower of St. Mary’s church so that the gunners could fire over the town walls.
The cannon was a large one and was given the nickname, Humpty Dumpty. Unfortunately, the cannon’s recoil proved too much for the old structure of the church. The bell tower collapsed, taking the gun and the gunners with it.On another note, people have speculated about the reason for Humpty Dumpty’s fall. Was Humpty Dumpty murdered by pushing, or committed suicide by deliberately jumping off, or fell accidentally? Whatever be the truth behind the words in the rhyme, it has fascinated people for generations and will continue to do so.