My little garden
February 20, 2007
Mary Mary quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells
And pretty maids all in a row.
I finally have my desk at work, and this pot of tulips just completes the look and feel. Everyday i look at that pot, hoping a bud will show. With my luck, probably nothing.
I did a google search on the above nursery rhyme, and i wonder why we were taught that in kindy! Gruesome history. Read more about it below.
The origins are steeped in history… Bloody Mary!
The Mary alluded to in this traditional English nursery rhyme is reputed to be Mary Tudor, or Bloody Mary, who was the daughter of King Henry VIII. Queen Mary was a staunch Catholic and the garden referred to is an allusion to graveyards which were increasing in size with those who dared to continue to adhere to the Protestant faith - Protestant martyrs.Instruments of Torture!
The silver bells and cockle shells referred to in the Nursery Rhyme were colloquialisms for instruments of torture. The ’silver bells’ were thumbscrews which crushed the thumb between two hard surfaces by the tightening of a screw. The ‘cockleshells’ were believed to be instruments of torture which were attached to the genitals!The ” Maids” or Maiden was the original guillotine!
The ‘maids’ were a device to behead people called the Maiden. Beheading a victim was fraught with problems. It could take up to 11 blows to actually sever the head, the victim often resisted and had to be chased around the scaffold. Margaret Pole (1473 - 1541), Countess of Salisbury did not go willingly to her death and had to be chased and hacked at by the Executioner. These problems led to the invention of a mechanical instrument (now known as the guillotine) called the Maiden - shortened to Maids in the Mary Mary Nursery Rhyme. The Maiden had long been in use in England before Lord Morton, regent of Scotland during the minority of James VI, had a copy constructed from the Maiden which had been used in Halifax in Yorkshire. Ironically, Lord Morton fell from favour and was the first to experience the Maiden in Scotland!
posted in Work |
i used to like this nursery rhyme. most prolly coz my then innocent mind only interpreted the whjole rhyme literally.
thanks for the insights.
and i love reading your blog.
been a reader for a while now.
knew it from clicking on friend’s friend on friendster on one of those boring sleepless nights.
and i think you know this guy i crushed on in uni. ;p
Comment by kristin' — February 20, 2007 @ 1:56 pm
kristin: true true, so did i. innocent mindss….. sigh….
so whos your crush???
Comment by Angela — February 20, 2007 @ 2:04 pm
well that’s just sick, i remember singing that when i was a kid!
anyway, gong xi fa cai, hope you had a great lunar new year hol!
(actually made a comment on your previous post but my internet is being a bastard and didn’t put it up so this is now my second attempt at de-lurking. *crosses fingers*)
hey once your desk at work is more settled and pimped out take pictures, yeah? maybe in your new office space the plant might actually live compared to the none-to-negative-infinity chance it would’ve had in OPR!
and who the holy fucking hell is that dipshit commenter ‘Ogilvy’??? Just ban his/her/its ass from commenting ever again. such a douchebag…
Comment by averil — February 20, 2007 @ 10:28 pm
averil: oh that’s actually something on my side… its not your internet. I moderate comments coming in, especially new visitors. I think the next time you put in ur name and email, it posts it automatically.
HAHahahah hows that tree in front of Arshi, i’m surprised that thing is still standing with all the abuse it has had. i use to sit at arshi’s desk, and it would cry brown/yellow tears (leaves) on my keyboard.
Comment by Angela — February 20, 2007 @ 11:49 pm
AIYOH so morbid!! Chinese New Year leh!!!
Gong xi fa cai…I hope your collection was good this year!
Comment by Pei — February 21, 2007 @ 2:49 am
well, there’s no chance of leaves raining down on desks anymore because the thing is so wilted and droopy it has halved in height and lost 3/4 of its leaves!
i like to tell sophia it’s all due to her rancid breath. >=D muahahaha….
Comment by averil — February 21, 2007 @ 9:41 am
Pei: quite right??? Happy new year to you too… this year hardly anything lah. Nothing from parents because my grandma passed last year. We haven’t been visiting anyway. hope yours is good though ahahhaha
averil: AHAHHHA soo meaaannn….. i reckon that plant isnt an indoor plant. take it out of its misery, and place it at the balcony or something.
Comment by Angela — February 21, 2007 @ 1:46 pm
hey angela, where did you buy the pot of tulips from? i am motivated to put one on my desk as well! =)
Comment by passerby — February 21, 2007 @ 2:31 pm
passerby: IKEA believe it or not!
12 bucks
Comment by Angela — February 21, 2007 @ 11:29 pm
Hey Angela,
Happy CNY to u!
I bet those tulips in Ikea will soon be snapped up by ur readers!! Muahahaha!!
Anyway, I first chanced upon ur blog when I googled for “bollywood Veg” and have been reading ur blog regularly since. Enjoy lots reading ur blog actually.
Tot parents shld be able to give angbaos? No? I tot it’s only visiting tat shld be avoided -_-”
Watever it is, hope u enjoyed ur cny holiday break and it’s time to get back to work again!! =(
Comment by Carol — February 22, 2007 @ 9:44 am