Hidden History

Many English nursery rhymes have a hidden history lesson for us. One example is 'There Was A Crooked Man'
Here is the rhyme:

THERE WAS A CROOKED MAN
There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile;
He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together in a little crooked house.

It has been suggested by one scholar that the crooked man may have been General Sir Alexander Leslie of Scotland, one of those who signed the Covenant during Charles I’s reign, securing the religious and political freedom of Scotland. The ‘crooked sixpence’ would thus be Charles I, and the ‘crooked stile’ the English/Scottish border. That the English and the Scots reached agreement, after Leslie had crossed the border and seized Newcastle in 1640, is implicit in ‘they all lived together in a little crooked house’.

Do you know any nursery rhymes that tell a story? If you do please let us know.