Everything You Need to Know About Humpty Dumpty

Everybody knows the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty, it's about an egg that falls off a wall and nobody can put him back together again. But what does it mean? Where did ti come from? Why is Humpty Dumpty an egg?

You'll notice that even though Humpty Dumpty is an egg to most of us, it never says that in the rhyme. Originally the rhyme was just about a short clumsy person and at the time "humpty dumpty" was slang for a short clumsy person.

There are a few different theories on what Humpty Dumpty is about. One theory is that Humpty Dumpty was a powerful cannon during the English Civil War. It was mounted on top of a tower defending the city of Colchester. The enemy attacked for 11 weeks before they finally hit the tower holding the cannon and Humpty Dumpty fell to the ground and broke. The King's horses and the King's men in the rhyme represent the cavalry and infantry who tried to repair him.

Another rumor very similar to that one is that Humpty Dumpty was a sniper nicknamed One-Eyed Thompson. This theory was exactly the same as the cannon theory. Same battle, same tower and everything, just that there was a sniper, not a cannon.

Others believe that Humpty Dumpty referred to King Richard III of England. Shakespeare depicts Richard III of England as a little hunchbacked man in his play which is why people would call Richard III of England a short, clumsy person. Falling off the wall and falling to pieces represents Richard III of England falling off his horse and being hacked into pieces during the battle of Bosworth Field. However, despite Shakespeare's depiction the real King Richard III of England was not a hunchback.

So if any of these are the origin of Humpty Dumpty then why is Humpty Dumpty an egg in the rhyme? Originally Humpty Dumpty was not meant as a story but a riddle. Even though the last line of the rhyme isn't a question it's meant to be a riddle that has an answer. The answer to the riddle is that Humpty Dumpty is actually an egg, his clumsy round proportion is why he fell and it also explains why the king's men and horses couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

One more thing you might not know about Humpty Dumpty. There is a conspiracy that Humpty Dumpty, the egg version in the nursery rhyme, was actually pushed off the wall. There was a poem written by, allegedly, the same author in which a policeman inspects all of the fairy tale characters to see if they had seen anything. They all claim to have an alibi. There alibis are what these character are known for doing in their own tales. For example when Jack and Jill are enquired they claim to be getting water at the time. In the end Bo peep admits she saw the cow that jumped over the moon push Humpty Dumpty. Humpty Dumpty was actually the thing that the cow used as a propulsion device to get over the moon.