Humpty Dumpty's Secret Riddle
The Egg Nobody Called an Egg
How an old English riddle became the world's most famous egg
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A Riddle, Not a Poem
A rhyme like it appeared in print by 1797, in Samuel Arnold's Juvenile Amusements. It was told as a riddle, and the answer a child had to guess was simply an egg.
Source: Wikipedia
The Rhyme Never Says Egg
The verse never names an egg on purpose. Leaving it out was the whole trick of the riddle, so the listener had to work out the answer themselves.
Source: Mental Floss
Older Than The Egg Story
Long before the rhyme, humpty dumpty meant a 1690s drink of ale boiled with brandy, then by 1785 slang for a short, clumsy person. The egg came later.
Source: Etymonline
Carroll Named Him, Tenniel Drew Him
In 1871, Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass finally called him egg-shaped outright, and John Tenniel's illustration fixed that picture in everyone's mind.
Source: Wikipedia
The Siege Engine Tale Is A Legend
One scholar guessed in 1956 that Humpty was really a wheeled siege engine used at a Civil War siege, not a cannon at all. It is a fun legend, but later scholars called it a spoof.
Source: Mental Floss
Whatever Humpty really was, a good egg still deserves a soft landing on a Multan breakfast table.
References
- Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org
- Mental Floss mentalfloss.com
- Etymonline etymonline.com
- Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org
- Mental Floss mentalfloss.com
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