Middletown transcript., 1872-02-03
ORIGIN OF FAMILIAR TssiSus.

rev pcrsons are aware that many OF
the most popular nursery rhymes aud
sicries have mn origin quite different from
what Is usually supposed. Thus. il is
generally thought that the story of Gin
derclla was invented by some one in u
happy IT Of imagination; but il is said
to be founded on fac. The Greek his,o.
rian and gccgrupher, Strabo, say. thai,
oue day, as n lady, named Rhpdopis, was
bathing in the Nile. the wind ca,eied away
her sandal and lai.. i, at the feet of the
King Of Egypt. who was then holding n
court OF justice In the open air. no, far
OIL. His curiusity was excited by the
elegance Of the sandal, and he offered u
reward for The discovery Of the owner Of
il, The lady claimed il. aud il was found
TO lit her exactly. She was very beautiful.
aud the king married h.r. She is re-
memhercd in history as - the rosy check
ed queen of Egypt, and she lived 2op0
years before the Christian era The story
Of Blue Beard has also been traced to II
historical basis Giles de Laval Marshal
Of France. in li02 was distinguished for
his military abilities. bu, he rendered
himself Infamous by his extraordinary IN .
picty aud dcbauchcrics aud by numbering
his wives. lie bad long beard Of blush
black color. whence be was called Blue.
Beard. lie employed those who pretend
ed to be sorccrers to discover hidden trca.
sures. and be corrupted young persons OF
boil, sexes to attach them to him, after
which he killed them for tho sake of their
blood, which hc used for his incaniatons
BY order Of the Duke Of Brittany be was
burned alive, in field near Nantes, in
the year lli0. The story Of Jack the
'iinnt killer has been supposed to be de-.
rived from the wars Of King Arthur with
his rcbcllions Cornish vnssuls. who figure
ne ogrcs aud giants. while the King np-
pears as Jack Many more cases might
be cited. = The House ha, Jack built
has interesting a,,ieacdanis. This famous
juggling legend. believed to be an imiia.
ton OF a medieval Hebrew parable in the
form Of a hymn. was commemorative OF
the principal events in the history Of the
Jewish people The original is to be
found in the .Jcgi,h collection called the
Sephur .taggahah, vol %, aud the inter.
rr-taiinn Of it was given to the world so
far back as 1881. by + y Lcbrechi. of
Lcipsic. There are ten VERSES. The iirs,
CONSISTS uf iwo lines and shar, refrain !;
thus: =" \ kid. kid my father hougL,
for two plrces nf money" refrain !" \
Kid. kid This refrain is repeated nj
the r,nl Of each verse The second verse
commences with the words i" Then ea,ne
The cut md 4la tho kid, that my father
hauehi f,r two pieces of money !" The
third verse runs. j" then canr the dog
nd bit ,hs cat. that Ill the kid" &r
he fourth is. :" then caur the staff and
beat the dog, .ha, biz the cat. &c. The
9th is. " then cunc The fire, aud burned
the t'aif. that beat the dog" &c The
sixth is. :. then cumc the water. sad
li,cnchei the fire ,ha, burned the stall. :"
&c The seventh i. . then came the TX
and draak the water, that gu nch ,he
fire, &e The eight Is. 3" then camc the
hatcher. aud slew the ox, TINT drank the
wairr.' &c. The nGih il, then came
the aefel ef aea;a mud killed the butcher
ihot Flew tie OK. &c The tenth aud
Inst runs. then came the Holy Onr.
Blessed be lie. and kill.a the Angel ii
Death that killed iha butcher, thar slew
the OK. tlsi drank ile water that quen,h.
ed thn fire. TIM, burned the staff, tina,
bta, the dog that bi, The cnt. that ate ih
rid that my iather hnusht far ,wa piece,
Of money; n kid. n kid J"
Ii is evident that this is the model au
which j" The House that Jack Built, :"
" A Health to the Barley Now and
other sini.ar reduplicate verses. have
been framed These. however. are mere
~ humorous. and have NO more serious
object than in tickle the enr aud aunu.r the
tancy. Blu, the ancient Hebrew hymn
above cited has n deep Specification. and
according TO literary ap,hnr,y This is
the interpretation thereof" The kid,
which is Que Of the clean animals. denotes
the children of Israel. The Father BY
whom it is purchased is Jchoya. Who rep
reseu,s Himself rs sustaining this relation
TO them. The two pieces Of money signif,
Moses and Aaron. through whose agenc,
the lsraelites were brought out Of Egyp,
The cat denotes the Assyrians. by whom
the ten tribes were carried into captivity.
The dog symboize- the BABY lonians, who
overthrew the Assyrians. aud who sub
jec'ed the remaining two tribes The
staff indicates Cyrus the slcdc. who over.
threw the Haby!oEian Empire. restored
the Temple. aud replaced tho Jews in their
native land Tho fire indicates Alcxan.
der tho Great. who conquered Pales,ine
and destroyed tho Persian Empire The
water brtokens the Romans. who over
spread tho then known world like flood.
aud destroyed Jerusalem aud jewish ma.
tiouality. The OK ia symbol Of the Sa-
racens, who subducd Palestine aud an-
nexcd il to their Empire The butcher
that killed the OK denotes the Crusaders;
by whom the Holy Land was for . short
time wasted ou, Of the hand. of tho Sa.
rncens. The Augel Of Death signifies the
Turkish power. BY which Palestine wa-
taken from tho Crusaders snd tho Frank
aud to whom |, 10 still subject. The com.