Ben has a book called Funny Mother Goose which features illustrated nursery rhymes. The last page is one that goes:
Diddle diddle dumpling, my son John
went to bed with his stockings on.
One shoe off and one shoe on.
Diddle diddle dumpling, my son John.
What this rhyme fails to tell us is that - at least according to the illustration - John went to bed in such a state because he was completely wasted. In the picture he also has his pants on, but no shirt, and he's sprawled on the bed with his arms hanging over the sides and his tongue lolling out. And though there are no spilled rum bottles lying about, it's pretty obvious what was happening.
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Heck, that's nothin'...most of the time these nursery rhymes ended in bloody, unholy death. Eaten by some cannibal witch or the Knights Templar or something.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention the fact that before the advent of reliably purified water EVERYBODY was hammered more often than not. The 'John' in the story could be John Hancock or John Adams for all we know.