Behind the Rhyme

I am a proactive type person, I wade right into the thick of the problem,so when I get a song or phrase going through my head in a repetitive loop I have several methods I employ to break the loop. When it is a song it's usually an easy fix,put on some music and that seems to do the trick. Jingles and rhymes seem a bit harder to wipe away. This morning Peter,Peter Pumpkin Eater was making the rounds,I went about my morning routine thinking that by being busy it would probably stop on its own,but NO! I finally decided I would get on the computer and check out the origin of the rhyme. I wasn't too hopeful as I figured it was mostly nonsense words put together for their sounds...wrong again! As it turns out most nursery rhymes came from historical events or situations and some were invented as a way of spreading gossip about royalty. In the case of Peter,Peter haunting me,the story behind it was a surprise. Peter was a poor man who had an unfaithful wife,she kept cheating on him (he couldn't keep her). His solution,fairly common in the middle ages,was a chastity belt (pumpkin shell) so that only the holder of the key could enter the private region. Once in the belt,he kept her very well. Who would have guessed that meaning from a children's nursery rhyme?