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Most Fairy Tales were ‘grim’ even before the Brothers wrote
Hansel & Gretel.
There has been some discussion that Sing A Song OF Six Pence was actually used by the pirate Blackbeard to recruit sailors for his ship. Pirates being notorious for going on a drunken spree until their money ran out, pirate captains were usually looking to hire on new sailors.
The story goes that Blackbeard would send recruiters out to the taverns and they would sing the song to let sailors know Teach was hiring.
The rationale goes...
“Sing a song of sixpence,
A pocket full of rye;”
Most pirate captains paid only a portion of the loot. A dry run cruise meant the crew came back broke.
Not Teach. He actually paid his sailors six pence a day and provided a pocket (about a pint in a leather pouch, like a bota bag) of rum for each man.
“Four and twenty blackbirds
Baked in a pie.
When the pie was opened,
They all began to sing.
Now, wasn’t that a dainty dish
To set before the King?”
Other than his core crew Teach usually carried a replaceable crew of 24. The singer is letting sailors know Teach, the King was hiring.
“The King was in his countinghouse,
Counting out his money;”
No king counted money. This was to let prospective sailors know that Teach,the King of pirates, had cash on hand.
“The Queen was in the parlor
Eating bread and honey.”
Teach had gotten word that a valuable ship was ready to sail. Eating bread and honey meant putting on supplies
“The maid was in the garden,
Hanging out the clothes.
Along there came a big black bird
And snipped off her nose!”
The Garden was the area along the north american coast, roughly from Cuba/Florida up to the Carolinas. Every trade ship used that route.
So, the maid, Teach’s ship would hang their sails for the Garden and when a trade ship came along the big black bird would snap it up.
True? Not?
I don’t know or care.
Just throwing it out there.
Baa, Baa, Black Sheep,
Have you any wool?
"Yes, sir, yes, sir!
Three bags full.
One for the master,
One for the dame,
And one for the flapper girl
Who struts down the lane. "
Not exactly Grand Theft Auto, is it.
Mary had a little lamb........BUT I ATE IT!!
isn’t ‘this old man’ about child abuse, and ‘skip to my loo’ bout meeting lover in an outhouse?
Thanks for this post. Most, other than Ring Around a Posy, are actually new bits of unknown information. Great beginning of a beautiful fall weekend. :-) Cheers to ya’
"Mary had a little lamb,
Some peas and mashed potatoes..."
A lamb is in jail talking to his or her cellmate: "Mary had me arrested for following her."