Ring Around the Rosie: A Tale of Childhood Chaos
Oh, this one. Ring Around the Rosie, the song you learned as a kid, with its little hand-holding, spinning, and innocent giggles. What could possibly be sinister about it, right? Well, gather ‘round, my dear readers, and let me, Rumplestiltskin, rip the pastel-colored curtain off this nursery rhyme.
Let’s start with the fun little rhyme everyone knows:
Ring-a-ring o' roses,
A pocket full of posies,
A-tishoo! A-tishoo!
(Or ashes ashes )
We all fall down!
A nice, lighthearted ditty, right? Wrong. It's darker than a moonless night in the Ebonveil Forest.
Let me give you the real backstory here, and no, it’s not some cute song for children about skipping around in circles. Oh no, no. The “rosie” in the rhyme? It’s not a pretty flower. It’s actually a reference to the red rash that appeared on victims of the bubonic plague. Yes, you heard that right. That sweet little song is about death, my friends.
Ring around the rosie refers to the round, red spots that would appear on the skin of plague victims. A pocket full of posies—well, those flowers weren’t for fun. People would carry them to try and mask the horrible stench of the disease and the bodies piling up in the streets. Pretty grim, huh?
Now, “A-tishoo! A-tishoo!”? That’s a nice little sound for a sneeze, but it was often associated with the first sign of the plague. People sneezed, they got sick, and then—bam—they were falling down faster than you can say “quarantine.” But the worst part, the “we all fall down”? Yeah, that’s not the fun end of the game. That’s the part where everyone collapses.
So, instead of it being a cheerful song to sing while skipping rope, Ring Around the Rosie is actually a chilling reminder of a world plagued by disease, fear, and death. Fun fact: It’s believed to be a rhyme passed down through generations from the medieval times, hiding the true horrors beneath the guise of playful melody.
Now, can you ever hear that song again without shuddering just a little? I bet you’ll be wondering what other innocent childhood games are hiding some deep, twisted past.
➡ The Takeaway
Not every nursery rhyme is as innocent as it seems. So, next time you're singing Ring Around the Rosie with your little ones, think about what you’re passing down! History’s got a nasty way of wrapping horror in pretty packages. But fear not, I’ll always be here, pulling the bows off these lovely little lies. You might just need a stronger song to get that out of your head.
Stay tuned for more twisted tales from Rumplestiltskin, where nothing is as it seems and even the happiest of songs can hide a dark secret!
Ps.
The "Ring-a-ring o' roses" nursery rhyme has a few different versions that have evolved over time. One version originally included the line "A-tishoo! A-tishoo!" mimicking the sound of sneezing, but many people remember the rhyme with "Ashes, ashes," which is the more common version today. The rhyme itself has been adapted and changed over the years, so variations are pretty common.
