Humpty

Tera J. Lee

Aug 24, 2022

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.

Nursery rhymes, fairy tales, and Mother Goose are memories of our childhood, but when we look back at them now, they’re a whole lot more.

When you look at their origins, fairy tales and nursery rhymes are scary. Some are even horrifying. As a teacher, to get the boys involved in reading a fairy tale, I would read the Brothers Grimm version to compare it with the “rainbows and lollipops” version in our textbook. They would get into it

In Cinderella, the sisters cut off parts of their feet to make the shoe fit. And at the end, crows plush their eyes out. Horrifying.

Humpty has several different backstories. One from the 17th century uses the term to describe a drunk staggering around. Another was inspired by the tragic death of Richard III. The story I have always heard is Humpty Dumpty was a cannon guarding a castle. The castle was captured and the cannon destroyed.

I use Humpty to represent people who make mistakes in their lives. But unlike Humpty, when we ask for forgiveness Christ will put us back together again. David and Johah are two examples I used in a song I wrote years ago, but we’re all sitting high on our walls at some point in our lives. We think we can do it on our own, only to discover without Christ, we’re nothing, can do nothing.

So here we are sitting on our high wall

They say that pride and vanity go before a fall

But when we say a prayer to the Father up above

He’ll put us back together with Love.