Blogpost 6: ""Humpty Dumpty: An EGG-citing Tale"

Humpty Dumpty

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

All the king's horses and all the king's men

Couldn't put Humpty together again.

          Humpty Dumpty has been one of my childhood favorite nursery rhymes because I have always loved round things. As as a kid, most of my toys were balls, rings, plastic eggs, and round teddy bears; basically I love everything that is round, circular and spherical. That is also the same reason I adored Humpty Dumpty.

          I have always thought of Humpty Dumpty as a fat king who ate and drank too much. One day he sat on the wall of his palace, to see the view of his kingdom, and since he was really big and round he fell over. His knights and horses tried to put him back up again, but they couldn't since he was too heavy.

         There was this time when my mom told me that Humpty Dumpty was an egg, and whenever she cooked eggs for breakfast, I'd say that I was eating Humpty Dumpty.

Article called "Humpty Dumpty: The Origin of This Nursery Rhyme" written by Jennifer Wright from the website www.voices.yahoo.com says: 

Humpty Dumpty Canon

"During the English civil war, there was a battle referred to as the Siege of Colchester (1648). Colchester was a walled city and was guarded heavily by the Royalists. Inside the city walls stood a castle and a few churches. One church in particular, St. Mary's, stood right beside the wall. Humpty Dumpty was believed to be a cannon which was placed on the roof of the church and fired by a sniper called 'One-eyed Jack Thompson'. Story has it that the walls of the fortified city were shot at for 11 weeks before finally falling. The wall beneath Humpty Dumpty was destroyed and the cannon fell to the ground. Therefore "All the kings horses and all the kings men" tried to put Humpty back together again by attempting to place the cannon onto another part of the wall. Unfortunately Humpty Dumpty was too heavy and could not be replaced. This siege ended with Colchester being taken by the Parliamentarians."

Humpty Dumpty Falling Down

          Humpty Dumpty is an actual canon that was used to ward off anyone who wanted to conquer the Colchester City. It was very useful and effective. None of the people in the Parliament were able to penetrate through their walls until such a day came when the wall which was supporting Humpty Dumpty crumbled down and brought the huge cannon with it. Seeing that the defense of the Colchester City was down, the Parliament broke down the gates and fought the people with their guns and swords. Some of the townsfolk tried to put Humpty Dumpty to another location, but they failed to do so, since it was too heavy. 

          So Humpty Dumpty is actually a cannon- GREAT! It still don't understand why he is always referred as an egg in almost all of the nursery rhymes children know. In the nursery rhyme itself, there was nothing mentioned about Humpty Dumpty being an egg, maybe it was the people's notion why we think he is an egg now.

~Ken Ricafort~