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Mary Mary quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells
And pretty maids all in a row.
The
origins are steeped in history...
The Mary alluded to in this traditional English nursery rhyme is
Mary Tudor, or Bloody Mary, who was the daughter of King Henry VIII.
Queen Mary was a staunch Catholic and the garden referred to is an
allusion to graveyards which were increasing in size with those
who dared to continue to adhere to the Protestant faith. The
silver bells and cockle shells were colloquialisms for instruments
of torture. The 'maids' were a device to behead people similar to
the guillotine. |
