This is a pretty gruesome story when you think about it, yet children have been singing it for years. Where did this slasher tale come from? Many nursery rhymes started out as social commentary or political cartoons in verse. In this case, the “farmer's wife” was Queen Mary I of England, so called because her estates included a lot of farmland. She was displeased with three ratty noblemen, but she didn’t dismember them as the rhyme suggests. She simply had them burned at the stake.

On March 11, 2001, William Abbiss wrote:

Nursery Rhymes contain alot of quite profound truth hidden within them. They are often recited without this being realised. Many are reflections of the gospel. They can be very cynical too (if nonetheless true).

What about little red riding hood. Isn’t that about insincerity? (“They will come to you as lambs but inside they are as ravening wolves” JC (sounds odd but look it up.)

3 blind mice. I was taught that it came from the period of slavery in the US. The 3 blind mice I was told were 3 blind negros. Poor people who could not see so far as their wealthier ( opressors? ).

The farmers wife? sex or something. It was (supposed to be) a lynching.

Incredible that it should be naievly taught to toddlers, was the story. But a fascinating insight into people.

Look at WW2 and how the vast majority co-operated. Even the US Jews made no effort to arrest the slaughter of their European kin.

The war was fought with gusto. But not one tiny attempt was made to liberate any camp by any nation. They knew about it. But the camps were only liberated after nearly 100% of the Jews over a large area had been anhialated. A remarkable absence of peace talks over Hiroshima too.

Aren’t many nursery rhymes frankly pretty macabre?