Many people just take nursery rhymes and fairy tales at face value and never imagine there is a deeper often dark background to them. Added to that, some of the stories convey ideas and notions that have a double-entendre or sexual overtones that are camouflaged so that they are both applicable for children and convey a certain interest for adults.
Animals are frequently used as metaphors for human conditions or attributes.
Strong as a bear, cunning as a fox, wise as an owl, eyesight like an eagle, scared like a chicken, brave as a lion, modest as a cat, busy as a beaver or bee, deceptive and lying as a wolf, standing out/different as a black sheep, untrustworthy as a snake, taking advantage like a shark, etc.
So, we can see there are particular human qualities that we attribute to certain animals. In this way a tale or nursery rhyme can be constructed that as far as children are concerned, they are none the wiser, whereas, for adults, they can recognise a deeper message or moral being implied.
Much of the origins or etymology of many of these rhymes and folklore tales are shrouded in myth or legend. Additionally, as they travelled and were translated into other languages their origins became confused with the overlaying of other versions and events.
‘Ring a Ring o’ Roses’
Many of us were told that the well-known nursery rhyme ‘Ring a Ring o’ Roses’ is an allusion to the epidemics or Bubonic plague that wreaked havoc throughout Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries.
The ring of roses being the rash that the plague brought on. The posies being the flowers that were placed near the infected person to cover over the bad vapours that emanated from the patient.
Atishoo, atishoo referred to the sneezing (and coughing) that accompanied the sick person prior to falling down dead.
However, investigation has shown that the etymology is nowhere near as old as this, merely dating from the mid-19th century. What is ironic, is that this origin only started to be propagated during the 20th century!
However, here I would like to suggest some more erotic and sexual meanings and significances.
Children would gather together in groups, holding hands and dancing around in play sing the rhyme and then falling down. They were mimicking adults going around courting a mate, giving the prospective lady flowers to wow her, eventually giving her a ring of marriage, with the intention of falling down, lying down wither and bedding her.
Yet there are lewder and more lascivious meanings in these words.
The roses and posies are references to the woman’s pudenda, her pussy and ‘garden’ which she would guard and cultivate. The sneezing is an oblique reference to orgasm, both the man and his wife when their new relationship is consummated by falling down, when she gets ‘laid,’ or well and truly ‘f*cked.’
Let’s look at another rhyme.
‘Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep.‘
This is generally accepted as talking about sheep that have been ‘docked’, or in Australia ‘mulesing’, where the tail is removed to prevent infection from blowflies.
However, there is an obscure lecherous explanation.
Bo Peep is a promiscuous young woman (‘little’) who has lost her looks and captivating attractiveness for men ‘sheep’. She is told not to worry, as they will eventually return to pursuing her. (bring their ‘tails’ behind them.)
‘Jack and Jill went up the hill.’
This is obviously about a young couple discovering their sexuality, and wanting to get it together, they seek some privacy away from prying eyes, ‘up and over the hill.’
‘To fetch a pail of water’, just an excuse.
Jack fell down (upon Jill, who rejected his crude advance), thus ‘breaking his crown’, his pride, and sulks off. But Jill, does not want to lose him completely, because she secretly likes him and wants and likes his advances, and so ‘tumbles after’ him.
‘Hey diddle-diddle the cat and the fiddle.’
Here we have a young and inexperienced boy trying to masturbate and sexually stimulate his partner as part of their foreplay – diddling is a slang word for masturbation.
The ‘cat’ – Tom cat – Male, ‘fiddle’ – violin, think of its shape – Female.
The ‘cow’, the girl, ‘jumped over the Moon’ (mis pronouncement of Man) was on top.
‘The little dog laughed’ they were being observed by a child. So, they ran off together to a more private location.
Let’s look at a fairy tale now.
Little Red Riding Hood.
Though an enchanting story about good prevailing over evil, (depending on how the story ends) it is hard to avoid the sexual overtones contained in the characters and their actions. Though it can be seen in terms of seduction and, other analyses suggest the transition of puberty and adolescence, certain female coming of age memes.
There are even revisionist feminist rewritings of the tale where the female outsmarts and prevails over the cunning and scheming
‘wolf.’ Moreover, I have heard a recent rendering of the
‘wolf’ as a protagonist of transgenderism, that far from being dangerous, just wants to shed his masculinity and become the ‘Grandmother’! So much for stereotypes.
Nevertheless, the overwhelming opinion of the original versions of the tale is that of the sexual roles of
‘Little Red Riding Hood’ the young blossoming woman and the ravenously scheming and seduction-obsessed
‘wolf’.
The mother’s warning not to stray off the path, don’t get distracted or speak to strangers (stranger danger) and the subsequent wolf’s success in getting
‘Little Red’ to do just that clearly indicates his sly ability to influence her to his wiles and ways.
Once she arrives at her granny’s cottage the centre of attention is the bedroom. It is not too big a reach to see where this is going. The
‘wolf’ who has replaced the grandmother, guardian, and protective agent, represents the overwhelming force of male seduction, r*pe, and ravishment. However, we see
‘Little Red’ trying to discuss and negotiate with the
‘wolf.’
There is even an element of
‘Stockholm-syndrome’ entering the saga, with
‘Little Red’ falling for the
‘wolf’ and actually participating in the seduction, making it consensual. Though in many early readings someone comes along, either a woodsman or a huntsman and saves her from the
‘wolf’ very gallantly and chivalrously. Whether the characters refer to actual historical individuals or are just general tropes is not sure. What is sure is that down the ages children as well as adults have enjoyed the story and it has been depicted in film, musical, cartoon and animation.
