Nursery Rhymes - Three Blind Mice

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Nursery Rhymes - Three Blind Mice

Nursery Rhymes

Singing and dancing have been the part of world history since the beginning of time. The rhythmic songs developed to keep children busy and learn while singing was called nursery rhymes. The world heard first about the terminology describing these children songs as nursery rhymes in the 18th and 19th century. They are now an essential part of a child’s education in his/her early years, be it in school or at home.

Food for Thought

Many nursery rhymes were written for children but had a lot of subliminal messages. Stories and songs would be told generation to generation passed down throughout time. Humpty Dumpty was based upon a famous British Canon protecting a tower for over three months that finally fell, not to be found by the King’s search party. Many other nursery rhymes had similar synopsis beyond just the literal meanings. However, some rhymes were written with a real meaning on the surface level as well as between the lines.

Lyrics

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

Surface Level

A nursery rhyme involving cutting and chopping of living things is itself quite disturbing for pre-school kids. However, the nursery rhyme, which was published in 1609, talks about three mice that ran after a farmer’s wife. The woman used a carving knife to cut off their tails. It is an offensive poem on the face of it, but it goes deeper than this.

Bloody Marry Strikes Again

The center figures of “Mary Mary Quite Contrary” is Queen Marry I who is also the one same Mary depicted by the farmer’s wife in this rhyme. Since King Philip (Mary’s husband) owned a lot of lands, the reference of farmer’s wife is used. The blind mice depict three bishops that tried to overthrow the queen. They are referred to as blind because of their Protestant faith. The three bishops are known to be Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Radley, and The Archbishop of Canterbury. All three of them were persecuted by the Queen for the crime of treachery which is referred by the cutting off their tails.

My Take

This looks like a rhyme that passed on by spoken word before being actually published in 1609. This is because of the difficulty of getting the text out in a regime where you could get killed for writing such a verse. The rhyme entered children's literature in 1842 when it was published in a collection by James Orchard.