5 Nursery Rhymes and their Dark Origins

1. Three Blind Mice

This is another Bloody Mary rhyme due to her reign. Rather than talking straight to the point, in fear of being punished, people must have talked in riddles to talk about the evil doings of the queen.

The rhyme goes like this:

Three blind mice. Three blind mice.
See how they run. See how they run.

They all ran after the farmer’s wife,
Who cut off their tails with a carving knife,

Did you ever see such a sight in your life,
As three blind mice

Apparently the rhyme talks about 3 protestant bishops who were burned at the stake by the Queen Bloody Mary. The bishops conspired to overthrow the queen but was unsuccessful which later caused their demise. Though they were not blinded, the blind mice were thought to be them blinded by the fact of them being Protestant.

This rhyme only entered children’s literature in 1842 and passed of as a cute nursery rhyme. Which is very interesting.

Now, these are just theories on where the nursery rhymes came from. So it might be true or just mere speculation. But thinking about it, maybe in 50 or 100 years from now, imagine what the “Wheel on the Bus” song might be interpreted by future theorists.