On 2009-12-29, Leonard Blaisdell > wrote:

> Those skip-rope songs were as horrifying as "Hansel and Gretel". Check
> out "Ring Around the Rosy" if you haven't. Shudder.

Boy howdy! I got a book from the library that provided the original
stories and sometimes the origninal illustrations of European
fairytales. Holy crap! It was gross! Most were tales meant to TERRIFY
kids into obedience. I forget the exact verse, but it was something
like, "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack will gut you from belly
button to eye-ball if you don't eat yer spinach!!" ....or something
similar.

nb