Humpty Dumpty is known as a character in nursery rhymes, often depicted as an egg in illustrations.
However, we've spent years being lied to...because Humpty Dumpty is not actually an egg and this revelation has left people shocked.
Humpty Dumpty often appears in numerous nursery rhyme books. He was seen as an egg with human-like attributes, including a face, arms, and legs.
However, people are only just realizing Humpty Dumpty is not an egg and the lyric shows there's no evidence that he's ever described as one.
In actuality, when you examine the lyrics closely, there is no reference to Humpty Dumpty being an egg. To refresh your memory, here are the lyrics:
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again.
Author Holly Bourne was baffled and wondered why he's forever been portrayed as one. She queried: "Who decided Humpty Dumpty was an egg?"
"It's not in the lyrics, and deciding he's a giant egg is quite a random leap for someone to make, and everyone else is like, 'yeah, a giant egg on a wall. Of course.'"
Below her post, many users also wondered why he was an egg and parked debate to seek answers to find out the origin of the misconception.
One person said: It's a cannon, I thought everyone knew that. Lots of nursery rhymes have dark meanings.
A second wrote: There's 2 things the song could be about. It's either about a cannon or it's about mad King George
A third commented: In Colchester, it’s acknowledged as a cannon on the town walls, used in the siege of 1648. The royalists were inside the walls. And when the cannon was destroyed, all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn’t put Humpty back together again.
Someone else said: Well it does say "all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty back together again
Another commented: According to a number of military historians, Humpty Dumpty was the name of a cannon used by the Royalists during the English Civil War. The conflict raged from 1642 to 1649, and in June of 1648, Humpty Dumpty was stationed on the walls of Colchester.
If Humpty Dumpty isn't an egg, what actually is Humpty Dumpty?
According to Jane Etheridge, Vice Chair of the Federation of Children's Book Groups, one popular theory is that it's believed to be Roundhead propaganda about a Royalist cannon. Its first appearance as an egg was in 'Through the Looking Glass.'
Another hypothesis that has circulated suggests that Humpty Dumpty represents King Richard III and recounts his downfall in the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485."
