Jack and Jill – Unravelling the Mystery


                                               

The famous nursery rhyme goes as:

Jack and Jill went up the hill

To fetch a pail of water

Jack fell down and broke his crown

And Jill came tumbling after

Did Jack and Jill really climb the hill for the purpose mentioned?  How did both Jack and Jill fall down? How come Jack broke his crown but Jill didn’t? Don’t you find something fishy in this rhyme?

I did and so I put on my thinking cap (which is getting worn out, for lack of use) and donned the role of the great Belgian detective Hercule Poirot and set my grey cells to work.  

If there was water on the hill, logically it should be flowing downhill. The natural tendency of water is to flow along the water table at a descending angle. Just the same way it flows on the earth’s surface. It follows permeable rocks and ultimately finds its way to streams, lakes and the oceans. Through rocks, water seeps – how much time Jack and Jill would have spent collecting water in their pail in this way? And how? This doesn’t make sense.

So, they did not go up the hill to fetch water? Then for what purpose did they go? I investigated their family tree and found that an old grandma of theirs lived up the hill.

Jack and Jill went up the hill

To see Old Grandma who was ill

Well, that makes sense - doesn’t it?

Now, the next two questions are

a)       how both of them tripped?

b)      and why Jack hurt his head badly and Jill did not?  

The following deduction will answer the questions:

Old Grandma had a fortune stashed away in her little cottage on the hill. Both Jack and Jill had eyes on it. They had hatched a plan of robbing Old Grandma and eloping to get married. But they were unaware of Peter, the Pumpkin Eater’s presence over there.    

Peter, Peter pumpkin eater

Had a wife and couldn’t keep her

He put her in a pumpkin shell

And there he kept her very well   

Peter was a cruel, vicious man who had imprisoned his wife in a pumpkin shell. He had learnt about Old Grandma’s wealth from Old Mother Hubbard who was a gossipy woman. Peter was about to enter the cottage with a machete in his hand when he heard some noise behind him. As he turned, he dashed into Jack, who was immediately behind him. The impact sent Jack tumbling down with a cracked skull. He was dead before he reached the base.

Jill screamed in terror and slipped. But she landed on her side and hence her head was saved. Peter disappeared with the fortune.

Jill now lives in Old Grandma’s cottage. She is well past hundred. But every evening you can see her outside the cottage with her great grandchildren teaching them Jack and Jill went up the hill.  



-          NZ

18.5.2019








Comments

  1. Deepak Mehra18 May 2019 at 05:56

    I love the imagination and picturisation of your detective work!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Vijay kumar18 May 2019 at 09:11

    Curious to know what the new nusery ryhme would sound like.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unknown19 May 2019 at 19:41

    Thinking out of box, has always been your forte, I'm happy that you are utilising your forte, I liked your imagination and different version of the rhyme.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Mother named me Haider

My mother named me Haider so said Ali son of Abu Talib to Marhab when he said that his mother had named him Marhab. If only Marhab had recalled, at this juncture, what his mother would tell him when he was a child. ‘My son, you’ll be a great warrior. Your fame would spread throughout the Arab world. But keep in mind one thing. If in any battle you come face to face with a man named Haider, do not fight him. Just lay down your sword.’ If Marhab had paid heed to his mother’s advice, he wouldn’t have met the fate he met with in Khaiber. But he was high on ego; drunk on his strength and fame, he thought, how anyone could fight him. He was Marhab – how anyone could challenge his might? In every battle, Ali always introduced himself as Ali son of Abu Talib. But in Khaiber, he introduced himself as Haider because he was aware of what Marhab’s mother had told Marhab. This is sufficient evidence of Ali’s knowledge of the unknown. If in Khaiber Ali had introduced himself as Ali a...
Read more

The Lady in Red

Yesterday after my morning prayer, I went for my 30- minute walk. My wife did not accompany me because she preferred the warmth of the bed to the cold outside. Usually, she does. I did not take the path that I normally take every day. The road was deserted and not a soul was in sight. I walked briskly, determined to do a certain number of steps within the time that I had. It was dark and the wintry breeze was making me shiver. I thought of the cosiness of my bed and for a moment was tempted to abandon the walk and go back home. But commitment is commitment. So, I kept walking. When I reached the end of the walking trail, I turned left instead of right. I don’t know why I did it. I should have turned right because that’s where the walker’s path continues. On the left is an alley between two high-rise buildings. Before I could turn back, I spotted a lady smoking a cigarette. She was wearing a long, red gown and her lips were painted with blood-red lipstick. Her tired eyes had da...
Read more

Zaidis and Wastis

                                                         Many people believe that Zaidis and Wastis are two separate surnames. The truth is that it isn’t. Zaidis and Wastis hail from a place in Iraq called Wasit. Wasti is actually Wasiti but over time, it became Wasti. They are descended from the fourth Imam Ali bin Hussain, also known as Zain-ul-Abedin. His eldest son’s name was Zaid. Hence the name Zaidi. These people are Sayyeds meaning they can trace their ancestry to the Holy Prophet. In the 11 th century, Sayyid Abul Farah Al Hussaini Al Wasti (son of Syed Daud al Hussaini), came to India from Iraq, with his twelve sons, and most of the Zaidis and Wastis in India and Pakistan are their descendants. Let me clarify one point here. There are Zaidis who are not Wastis. They are those who believe that Zaid and not Mohammad Baqir ...
Read more