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;
Have u ever seen such a sight in your life,
As three blind mice...

I’ve always found it ironic that most of the classic nursery rhymes we’ve been singing & sung to ever since we were toddlers were shockingly violent.

I remembered reading Agatha Christie, about 10 years ago (I was a huge fan for thriller, mystery novels then). She used The 3 Blind Mice as her Prologue... Man, did it give me goosebumps.

As a child, my cousins & I used to sing this bouncy old tune whenever it rains. It was about an old man. He jumped on his bed when it was raining & pouring & then he couldn’t get up in the morning!
It didn’t register to me, not till a couple of years ago that the poor old man must have died to not be able to get up the next day. But if he didn’t (die, that is), I suppose paralysis isn’t a very comforting thought for kids as well, isn’t it?

How about Humpty Dumpty’s ending? If it was meant to be a joke, who ever wrote these rhymes, (Mother Goose??) surely had poor taste.

Rock-a-bye-baby was supposedly meant to put a child to sleep... But honestly, when the bough breaks & the cradle falls, how do you think will the baby be at all?

Now all of us know what happened to Jack & Jill. Question is, why couldn’t we sing it with a happier ending for once, instead of Jack breaking his crown & Jill come tumbling after?

Yesterday’s NST mentioned that the Family Centre in Abingdon (somewhere in London, I suppose), decided to change “Baa Baa Black Sheep” to – believe it or not- “Baa Baa Rainbow Sheep” *laughs* Toddlers in London are already being taught to sing the new ridiculous song, apparently, with the idea to promote “equal opportunities” & avoid color/racial discrimination.

Of all things (& rhymes), they’ve decided to waste time & money doing this sort of thing when there are far more important things to think about when it comes to educating children??

Besides, can somebody please tell me what a rainbow sheep is?