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Balefire Publishing
Jack and Jill and Old Dame Gill (Illustrated)
Jack and Jill and Old Dame Gill (Illustrated)
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This book for children provides an extended version of the famous nursery rhyme of Jack and Jill in which, in addition to fetching some water, Jack and Jill get into various scrapes with animals, swings, see-saws, and the ever-chastising Old Dame Gill.
"Jack and Jill" (sometimes Jack and Gill, particularity in earlier versions) is a traditional English nursery rhyme. The rhyme dates back at least to the 18th century and exists with different numbers of verses each with a number of variations. Several theories have been advanced to explain its origins and to suggest meanings for the lyrics.
The rhyme has traditionally been seen as a nonsense verse, particularly as the couple go up a hill to find water, which is often thought to be found at the bottom of hills, however, in reality wells can and do occur up hills due to groundwater effects, and vinegar and brown paper were a home cure used as a method to draw out bruises on the body. The phrase "Jack and Jill", indicating a boy and a girl, was in use in England as early as the 16th century. A comedy was performed at the Elizabethan court in 1567-8 with the title Jack and Jill and the phrase was used twice by Shakespeare: in A Midsummer Night's Dream, which contains the line: "Jack shall have Jill; Nought shall go ill" (III:ii:460-2) and in Love's Labour's Lost, which has the lines: "Our wooing doth not end like an old play; Jack hath not Jill" (V:ii:874–5), suggesting that it was a phase that indicated a romantically attached couple, as in the proverb "A good Jack makes a good Jill".
Jack is the most common name used in English language nursery rhymes and by the 18th century represented an archetypal Everyman hero, while by the end of the Middle Ages Jill or Gill had come to mean a young girl or a sweetheart. However, the woodcut that accompanied the first recorded version of the rhyme showed two boys (not a boy and a girl), and used the spelling Gill not Jill. This earliest printed version comes from a reprint of John Newbery's Mother Goose's Melody, thought to have been first published in London around 1765. The rhyming of "water" with "after", was taken by Iona and Peter Opie to suggest that the first verse may date from the first half of the 17th century.
While the true origins of the rhyme are unknown, there are several theories. As is common with nursery rhyme exegesis, complicated metaphors are often said to exist within the lyrics of Jack and Jill, most post-date the first publication of the rhyme and have no corroborating evidence. These include the suggestion by S. Baring-Gould in the 19th century that the events were a version of the story told in the 13th-century Prose Edda Gylfaginning written by Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson, who stated that in Norse mythology, Hjúki and Bil, brother and sister (respectively), were taken up from the earth by the moon (personified as the god Máni) as they were fetching water from the well called Byrgir, bearing on their shoulders the cask called Saegr and the pole called Simul. Around 1835 John Bellenden Ker suggested that Jack and Jill were two priests, and this was enlarged by Katherine Elwes in 1930 to indicate that Jack represented Cardinal Wolsey (c.1471–1530); and Jill was Bishop Tarbes who negotiated the marriage of Mary Tudor to the French king in 1514. It has also been suggested that the rhyme records the attempt by King Charles I to reform the taxes on liquid measures. He was blocked by Parliament, so subsequently ordered that the volume of a Jack (1/2 pint) be reduced, but the tax remained the same. This meant that he still received more tax, despite Parliament's veto. Hence "Jack fell down and broke his crown" (many pint glasses in the UK still have a line marking the 1/2 pint level with a crown above it) "and Jill came tumbling after". The suggestion has also been made that Jack and Jill represent Louis XVI of France, who was beheaded in 1793 (lost his crown), and his Queen, Marie Antoinette (tumbling after).
"Jack and Jill" (sometimes Jack and Gill, particularity in earlier versions) is a traditional English nursery rhyme. The rhyme dates back at least to the 18th century and exists with different numbers of verses each with a number of variations. Several theories have been advanced to explain its origins and to suggest meanings for the lyrics.
The rhyme has traditionally been seen as a nonsense verse, particularly as the couple go up a hill to find water, which is often thought to be found at the bottom of hills, however, in reality wells can and do occur up hills due to groundwater effects, and vinegar and brown paper were a home cure used as a method to draw out bruises on the body. The phrase "Jack and Jill", indicating a boy and a girl, was in use in England as early as the 16th century. A comedy was performed at the Elizabethan court in 1567-8 with the title Jack and Jill and the phrase was used twice by Shakespeare: in A Midsummer Night's Dream, which contains the line: "Jack shall have Jill; Nought shall go ill" (III:ii:460-2) and in Love's Labour's Lost, which has the lines: "Our wooing doth not end like an old play; Jack hath not Jill" (V:ii:874–5), suggesting that it was a phase that indicated a romantically attached couple, as in the proverb "A good Jack makes a good Jill".
Jack is the most common name used in English language nursery rhymes and by the 18th century represented an archetypal Everyman hero, while by the end of the Middle Ages Jill or Gill had come to mean a young girl or a sweetheart. However, the woodcut that accompanied the first recorded version of the rhyme showed two boys (not a boy and a girl), and used the spelling Gill not Jill. This earliest printed version comes from a reprint of John Newbery's Mother Goose's Melody, thought to have been first published in London around 1765. The rhyming of "water" with "after", was taken by Iona and Peter Opie to suggest that the first verse may date from the first half of the 17th century.
While the true origins of the rhyme are unknown, there are several theories. As is common with nursery rhyme exegesis, complicated metaphors are often said to exist within the lyrics of Jack and Jill, most post-date the first publication of the rhyme and have no corroborating evidence. These include the suggestion by S. Baring-Gould in the 19th century that the events were a version of the story told in the 13th-century Prose Edda Gylfaginning written by Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson, who stated that in Norse mythology, Hjúki and Bil, brother and sister (respectively), were taken up from the earth by the moon (personified as the god Máni) as they were fetching water from the well called Byrgir, bearing on their shoulders the cask called Saegr and the pole called Simul. Around 1835 John Bellenden Ker suggested that Jack and Jill were two priests, and this was enlarged by Katherine Elwes in 1930 to indicate that Jack represented Cardinal Wolsey (c.1471–1530); and Jill was Bishop Tarbes who negotiated the marriage of Mary Tudor to the French king in 1514. It has also been suggested that the rhyme records the attempt by King Charles I to reform the taxes on liquid measures. He was blocked by Parliament, so subsequently ordered that the volume of a Jack (1/2 pint) be reduced, but the tax remained the same. This meant that he still received more tax, despite Parliament's veto. Hence "Jack fell down and broke his crown" (many pint glasses in the UK still have a line marking the 1/2 pint level with a crown above it) "and Jill came tumbling after". The suggestion has also been made that Jack and Jill represent Louis XVI of France, who was beheaded in 1793 (lost his crown), and his Queen, Marie Antoinette (tumbling after).
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