September 27, 2020
One of the mysteries of life is what our brains are doing when we are asleep. We now know it is not simply a matter of recharging their energies, and that the brain is, for instance, actively processing and forming memories. And that problems we pondered before going to sleep are often resolved when we emerge from sleep. But our knowledge of the brain asleep is still very sketchy.
This morning I stumbled out of bed, peed and washed my hands and face. As I placed the sliver of soap back in the dish, a bubble dome, about an inch in diameter, formed on top of it, and instantly, in the sing-song voices of little girls, a fragment of the words of an old jump-rope song, not heard in 80 years, came into my head: “the next day he died with a bubble in his throat”.
A few minutes later I found on line, and immediately recognized, the rest of the song.
Lulu had a baby,
his name was Tiny Tim;
she put him in the bathtub
to teach him how to swim.
He drank all the water,
he ate all the soap,
the next day he died with a bubble in his throat.
Now I am wondering about jump-rope and the songs from children’s games. I remember learning that “Ring around the rosie; Pocket full of posies; Ashes, ashes; all fall down”, is from the time of the bubonic plague, when flowers were used to ward off contagion, and perhaps the smell of death, and the bodies and belongings of the dead were burned to ashes to stop the spread.
So how did I know then, and why was it so, that girls were expected to jump rope and boys could not, except on the occasional dare from the girls? I think I took the dare once, maybe twice, but knew it couldn’t be a regular thing.
Ah, well, I spent a pleasant hour just now browsing through the metaphorical and allegorical meanings of jump-rope songs and nursery rhymes.
How does this connect to recent conversations here? Well, in many cases the true political meanings were concealed in nursery rhymes because adults were not free to speak of them. To speak against the king resulted in severe punishment, just as today, speaking against the established mob, (the one that designates itself as the arbiter of political rectitude), results in threats to, and assaults upon those who dare it.
Whereas centuries ago in Europe it would have resulted in actual decapitation, now that is still true only in existing islamic theocracies or among those who aspire to establish them.
END