Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mary, Queen of Scots

The most common modern version of the poem can be seen below.

"Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells, and cockle shells,
And pretty maids all in a row."

Although the actual origins of the poem are ambiguous at best, one theory
connects it to Mary, Queen of Scots, with the line "how does your garden grow" possibly referring to her reign, with "silver bells" providing a reference to Catholic cathedral bells; while the phrase "cockle shells" possibly implied that her husband was unfaithful; and "pretty maids all in a row" might be seen as representing her ladies-in-waiting.

Another theory has it that the poem refers to Mary the 1st of England, while yet another view interprets it merely as an allegorical reference to the Catholic church itself.

The earliest known version of it was printed in 1744 -

"Mistress Mary, Quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With Silver Bells, And Cockle Shells,
And so my garden grows."

Answer: Easter

Usually associated with the Easter season, and specifically with Good Friday, "Hot Cross Buns!" was heard as a commonplace street cry that referred to the sale of a spiced English bun.

"Hot cross buns!
Hot cross buns!
One ha' penny, two ha' penny,
Hot cross buns!
If you have no daughters,
Give them to your sons
One ha' penny,
Two ha' penny,
Hot Cross Buns!"

One of the earliest references to this poem is found in the 1733 edition of "Poor Robin's Almanack" - "Good Friday come this month, the old woman runs
with one or two a penny hot cross buns."

Answer: brandy boiled with ale OR a short, clumsy person

Originally, according to the Oxford English Dictionary a "humpty-dumpty" was a brandy that had been boiled with ale. As a word of double entendre, it could also have been meant to describe a short, clumsy person.

Several claims have been made as to the origins of the poem, but the most interesting one that I found was one that references "Humpty-Dumpty" to a cannon that was placed on the walled-in area of Colchester, England. The town was surrounded by a stone wall, the cannon was placed upon the wall to protect the town during a siege in 1648. A shot from an enemy cannon blasted down that section of the wall, and the Cavaliers/Royalists or "all the king's horses and all the king's men" failed to reassemble it and restore it to its proper use, according to this particular "interpretation".

I have personal doubts as to its veracity, since this view was not proposed until 1996, and then only by the Colchester tourist board, but it does SOUND kind of interesting, doesn't it?

Answer: False

The most likely candidate for the subject of the poem was actually William of Orange, as he was known when he ruled over portions of the Netherlands. He was also known as William III of England and William II of Scotland.

The Jacobites, (who supported the Catholic thrones of England), had nicknamed William III as "Willie Winkie", while the North Irish and Scots affectionaltely referred to him as "King Billy".

William Miller apparently merely used the name "Willie Winkie" without including any of the political intrigue that was attached to the name, and simply allowed it to represent sleep.

The first stanza in the original Scottish (1841) is followed by the English (1844) version of the poem below -

"Wee Willie Winkie rins through the toon,
Up stairs an' doon stairs in his nicht-gown,
Tirlin' at the window, crying at the lock,
'Are the weans in their bed, for it's now ten o'clock?'"
__________________________________________________________

"Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town,
Up stairs and down stairs in his night-gown,
Tapping at the window, crying at the lock,
'Are the children in their bed, for it's past ten o'clock?'"

Answer: Three Blind Mice

Original 1609 lyrics to the poem and song of the same name; "Three Blind Mice" -

"Three Blinde Mice,
Three Blinde Mice,
Dame Iulian,Dame Iulian,
the Miller and his merry olde Wife,
she scrapte her tripe licke thou the knife."

Modern version -

"Three blind mice. Three blind mice.
See how they run. See how they run.
They all ran after the farmer's wife,
Who cut off their tails with a carving knife,
Did you ever see such a sight in your life,
As three blind mice?"

Answer: Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater

While it is uncertain whether the poem alternately known as "Eeper Weeper" or "Eeper Neeper" spawned the later poem "Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater", it is most likely the original version of that poem, which later appeared in Boston in 1825. It is also likely that the pumpkin, an American vegetable, was incorporated into the poem around that time.

The more 'sanitized' American version reads like this -

"Peter, Peter pumpkin eater,
Had a wife but couldn't keep her;
He put her in a pumpkin shell
And there he kept her very well.

Peter, Peter pumpkin eater,
Had another and didn't love her;
Peter learned to read and spell,
And then he loved her very well."

Answer: Eeny-Meeny-Miny-Moe

That's right - "Eeny-Meeny-Miny-Moe" was the cause of this lawsuit. It seems that some African-American passengers felt humiliated by the poem, because of a word in the poem that at various times in the past has sometimes been replaced by a racially offensive word, even though it was not even implied on the plane.

According to court documents, the actual lines that were in question during the proceedings were when flight attendants frivolously spoke both of the following phrases: "Eeny-Meeny-Miney-Moe, Pick a seat, it's time to go"
and "Eeny-Meeny-Miney-Moe, Please sit down, it's time to go."

A jury returned a verdict that ruled in favor of the airline. Subsequently, the plaintiff's appeal was also denied.

Answer: Roses Are Red

The more modern version of "Roses Are Red" -
"Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Sugar is sweet,
And so are you."

A more irreverent and tongue-in-cheek version of that poem follows:

"Rose are red, violets are blue-
That's what they say; but it just isn't true.
Roses are red and apples are too,
But violets are violet; violets aren't blue!
An orange is orange, but Greenland's not green.
A pinky's not pink, so what does it mean?
To call something blue when it's not, we defile it,
But aww, what the heck - it's hard to rhyme violet."

Answer: "Ten Little Indians" and "Where, O Where Has My Little Dog Gone?"

In addition to writing under his own name, Septimus Winner also published works under various pseudonyms, including the names Alice Hawthorne, Percy Guyer, Mark Mason, Apsley Street, and Paul Stenton.

Abraham Lincoln had just fired General McClellan from his position as commander of the Army of the Potomac. Septimus Winner then wrote and published a song with the title "Give Us Back Our Old Commander: Little Mac, the People's Pride".

Lincoln was not pleased, and Winner was arrested on charges of treason. Winner was finally released with the understanding that he was to destroy all copies, but somehow versions of it reappeared when McClellan ran for president in 1864.

Answer: from being placed in stocks as a punishment

In the 14th century, a person who was placed in public stocks for punishment and ridicule by society, was often referred to as a person who was "playing bo peep".

By the 16th century, this activity had somehow evolved into a children's game, and in 1805, the poem came into popular use. The modern version says:

"Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep,
And doesn't know where to find them;
Leave them alone, and they'll come home,
Wagging their tails behind them."

Additional verses were later added -

"Little Bo-peep fell fast asleep,
And dreamt she heard them bleating;
But when she awoke, she found it a joke,
For they were still a-fleeting.

Then up she took her little crook,
Determined for to find them;
She found them indeed, but it made her heart bleed,
For they'd left their tails behind them.

It happened one day, as Bo-peep did stray
Into a meadow hard by,
There she espied their tails side by side,
All hung on a tree to dry.

She heaved a sigh and wiped her eye,
And over the hillocks went rambling,
And tried what she could, as a shepherdess should,
To tack each again to its lambkin."