See the Wikipedia article on Humpty Dumpty. Keep in mind that most nursery rhymes were centuries old in oral tradition before anyone put them in print. IMHO, the two best theories are:
1. It was a riddle, an egg was the answer.
2. It was a large cannon placed on the wall of a Royalist fort in the English Civil War. When it fell (or was knocked off by Parliamentarian cannon), “all the king’s horses and all the king’s men” couldn’t get it back in action. That would explain what horses had to do with it (pulling on cables to attempt to hoist the cannon up on the wall). The weakness of this theory is that the earliest published version of the rhyme (Samuel Johnson 1797) doesn’t have horses. OTOH, the last line of that version does fit an attempt at hoisting better than an attempt at re-assembly:
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. Four-score Men and Four-score more, Could not make Humpty Dumpty where he was before
killerbunnyfamily over 10 years ago
Someone looks like a painted Easter egg.
watmiwori over 10 years ago
Good thing he didn’t go for piercing! At least, not yet.
favm over 10 years ago
No problem with a fall, he’s hardboiled.
ladykat over 10 years ago
True, he’s just a little cracked
Nobody_Important over 10 years ago
He wears pants but no shirt??
markmoss1 over 10 years ago
See the Wikipedia article on Humpty Dumpty. Keep in mind that most nursery rhymes were centuries old in oral tradition before anyone put them in print. IMHO, the two best theories are:
1. It was a riddle, an egg was the answer.
2. It was a large cannon placed on the wall of a Royalist fort in the English Civil War. When it fell (or was knocked off by Parliamentarian cannon), “all the king’s horses and all the king’s men” couldn’t get it back in action. That would explain what horses had to do with it (pulling on cables to attempt to hoist the cannon up on the wall). The weakness of this theory is that the earliest published version of the rhyme (Samuel Johnson 1797) doesn’t have horses. OTOH, the last line of that version does fit an attempt at hoisting better than an attempt at re-assembly:
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. Four-score Men and Four-score more, Could not make Humpty Dumpty where he was before
goweeder over 10 years ago
“Except there’s nothing in the nursery rhyme to suggest Humpty Dumpty was even an egg.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.Spoiler alert !
Chris Sherlock over 10 years ago
The pastels give Humpty the impression of being a good egg, which he may not have intended.
tammyspeakslife Premium Member over 10 years ago
But that’s so redundant