Nursery Rhymes

We all have grown up memorizing and blabbering Nursery Rhymes. The moment our mothers realized that we have learnt to speak syllables, in came The Big Book of Nursery Rhymes for Children. They spent hours behind us to make sure that we can recite them so well that each time we had visitors, we could put up an impeccable performance in front of them. Nursery Rhymes were taught to us in a blind manner. Did we ever analyze them? No. No never really needed to, right? But now if we do, we'll realize that those lines of rhymes were completely unfit to become a child's read. Let us critically scrutinize some of the very popular ones...

1.
Hush a bye baby, on the tree top,
When the wind blows the cradle will rock;
When the bow breaks, the cradle will fall,
And down will come baby, cradle and all.

It indeed starts of in a soothing manner. You can feel the zephyr, you can visualize a rocking cradle. But suddenly a mishap occurs. Do you think the sight of a bow breaking, bringing along with it a small sleeping baby, is a very pleasant one?

2.
Piggy on the Railway
Picking up stones;
Down came an engine,
And broke Piggy’s bones.
‘Ah !’ said Piggy,
“That’s not fair,”
“Oh !” said the engine driver,
“I don’t care !”

A speeding train coming and hitting you.... does that sound delectable enough?

3. And how can we forget our all time favourite.......
Jack and Jill went up the hill,
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after.

Two young kids, coming down a slope with a heavy pail of water. (child labour, is it?) And the inevitable happens. A small boy and a small girl rolling down the slopes of a hill, with the boy having a cracked skull..... is it not a gory scene to even imagine?

I just showed you three of the numerous nursery rhymes that should come with an 'A' rating. Start analyzing them the next time you read. They won't appear as simple as they had till today!

P.S : The idea is based on a discussion I had heard years ago.