19527 - Out of the Mouths of Babes

Course Overview

You probably have a battered copy of nursery rhymes somewhere in a closet. It may even be entitled Mother Goose’s Nursery Rhymes. But do you know the true meanings behind those “innocent” childhood songs? Three Blind Mice refers to three nobleman who remained Protestant during the reign of Queen Mary I of England. Convicted of plotting against the queen, they were burned at the stake by farmer’s wife - aka Bloody Mary. What about that “mulberry bush”? Actually the exercise yard for female prisoners at England’s Wakefield Prison. Those prisoners might have been prostitutes or “goosey goosey” for a gander. Nursery rhymes were unsavory, often salacious comments on events of their time.

Join us for scandal, intolerance, murder, and mayhem as we ask “Who was Mother Goose anyway?”