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Did Humpty Dumpty ever say he was an egg?
It’s false. Humpty Dumpty was the name of a cannon used by English Royalists in the English Civil War of 1642-1649. Apparently on a whim, a 19th-century illustrator in Lewis Caroll’s “Through the Looking Glass” depicted Humpty Dumpty as an egg.
When did Humpty Dumpty become an egg?
Lewis Carroll invented the character as an egg. In a 1903 edition of “Mother Goose’s Nursery Rhymes,” Humpty Dumpty is printed as a riddle, with the solution at the bottom reading ‘An egg,’ with an illustration to match.
Why is Humpty Dumpty always depicted as an egg?
The rhyme came about because as Colchester was under siege, one of the cannons from the attacking side managed to destroy the wall ‘Humpty Dumpty’ was positioned on. Hence, Humpty Dumpty came tumbling down. Once a cannon, now an egg, forever a popular nursery rhyme.
Is Humpty Dumpty in Alice through the looking glass?
Humpty Dumpty is a fictional character from the novel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll. He is based upon a traditonal English nursery rhyme of the same name.
What is the true story of Humpty Dumpty?
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.
Where does it say Humpty Dumpty was an egg?
As a character and literary allusion, Humpty Dumpty has appeared or been referred to in many works of literature and popular culture, particularly English author Lewis Carroll’s 1871 book Through the Looking-Glass, in which he was described as an egg. The rhyme is listed in the Roud Folk Song Index as No. 13026.
What is the real meaning of Humpty Dumpty?
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, in the 17th century the term “humpty dumpty” referred to a drink of brandy boiled with ale. The riddle probably exploited, for misdirection, the fact that “humpty dumpty” was also eighteenth-century reduplicative slang for a short and clumsy person.