The bee., 1884-01-12
Origin Of Some Nursery Rhymes.

Cinderella or the Glass Slipper" is {
very old story. Thousands of wears AGO il
was told to boys and girls. The original
sead that an eagle stole the slipper of q
very pretty Egyptian lady and bore it of,
The eagle dropped it, and some one carried
1T to the King who made it known all over
the kingdom that he would marry the lady
whose tiny foot it would fit And so Gin
derella, the cinder-girl, became Queen. In
France, Germany and thiseountry the story
has taken several shapes, and has already
been favorite.
Little Jack Homer has the following
history: In England, in the reign of Henry
VIII, there lived Mr.. Horner. Henry.
the King, wished to tear down all the fine
rnonasteries and abbeys of England, sell
their lands and pocket the money. This
MIR. Horner was butler, or something, to
an odd abbot who thought he would gain
favor with Henry by giving him twelve of
his very best and richest monasteries. So
the abbot sent deeds Of them to the King
by this John Homer But Horner thought.
as he sat in the corner of the carriage ON
dis way to the King, that he would see
what all these great parers which he was
carrying meant. HE put in his thumb and
pulled out plum"-i. E., he opened and
read the deeds, put the one for the largest
piece of land in his own pocket, gave the
rest to the King ut London, and came home
and told his master that Henry VIII, for
his fidelity, had made him present Ofone
OF the largest tracts of land.
Blue Beard" too, is very old. He is
supposed to be Giles Delaval, Lord of Rails,
and was Marshal of France in 1929.
Jack, the Giant-killer," came from India.
He breaks forth in all sorts OF dOings all
over the story-books of the young And
% of "Jack and the Bean-stalk."
Babes in the Woods" is very touching
story. I think the origin of this may be
considered a very, very old ballad, which
tells of Richard III. numbering his own
dear little nephews.
The story of Little Red Riding-HOOd''
Is found in the German, but not exactly as
we tell it In English.
The Germans have a great variety Of
young folklore, or stories for little ones
Mother Goose was real person. She
lived In Boston. Her daughter Elizabeth
married the printer, Tom Fleet, who
gathered up the nursery melodies of his
motner-in-law and published them.
must now tell you the meaning of an |
old nursery rhyme: -Four and twenty |
slaekbirds made into a pie" are the four.
and-twenty hours of the day. The pie |
Is the space between the earth and the sky |
the fat-lOoking ground being the bottom |
crust, the birds in between, and the sky |
being the concave top crust. when t e
pie was opened" i. e., when day began to
break. "The birds began to sing" i. e.. the
hours to begin merrily. "The king in the
parlor counting out money y the king" is
the sun, the monarch of the day. There
he is enthroned in the sky. He is said to
be counting out money, because the sun
shine IS gold-color see how he counts it
out" filings it about him, the beautiful
golden sunshine. THE queen upstairs
eating bread and honey" Ofcourse, ifthe
king is the sun, the queen is the moon.
The maid in the garden, hanging out
clothes" The 'maid" is Aurora, the god
dess, not of the day, but of the dawn. Now
up jumped llttle bird and nipped Off
her nose" The little bird who did this
ungallant thing is, of course, the first hour
Of the day. for Aurora, or dawn, disappears
as soon as the king, or sun, arises.