Lore

Lore 290: Growing Pains

October 6, 2025

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  • Many seemingly innocent nursery rhymes and children's games, explored in "Lore 290: Growing Pains," often have dark or serious historical origins rooted in concepts like death, disease, or social anxieties. 
  • Folklore surrounding child mortality, such as the Nigerian legend of the Abiku, may have served as a cultural mechanism to explain or cope with real-world tragedies like genetic illnesses. 
  • Children's games and rhymes, like 'Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board' and the concept of 'Cooties,' function as ways for the young to process and gain a sense of control over frightening, uncontrollable aspects of the adult world, such as death and epidemics. 

Segments

Abiku: Spirits Predestined to Death
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(00:01:12)
  • Key Takeaway: The Nigerian legend of the Abiku describes spirits doomed to die young who repeatedly possess the same mother’s children.
  • Summary: Abiku spirits are said to lurk in baobab and Iroko trees in Nigeria and translate to ’none other than predestined to death.’ These spirits target the same mothers repeatedly, causing successive infant or child deaths. This folklore may have developed to help families rationalize genetic illnesses like sickle cell disease causing multiple premature deaths.
Dark Origins of Little Bo Peep
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(00:03:36)
  • Key Takeaway: The nursery rhyme ‘Little Bo Peep’ may reference 18th-century black market smugglers in East Hastings, Sussex, known as ‘Bo Peep.’
  • Summary: The rhyme first appeared in print in 1805, but one theory connects ‘Bo Peep’ to the smuggling game played in East Hastings, where the lambs represent smugglers and the tails represent their loot. Another theory suggests the rhyme refers to Mary, Queen of Scots, losing her followers. The true origin remains unknown.
Hey Diddle Diddle Origins Murky
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(00:05:44)
  • Key Takeaway: Despite theories linking ‘Hey Diddle Diddle’ to Egyptian goddesses or biblical events, no concrete evidence supports these elaborate claims.
  • Summary: The rhyme first appeared in print in 1765, but a 1569 play referenced a similar line, suggesting older roots. Medieval monks doodling fiddle-playing cats in manuscripts might be coincidence, not evidence. The most likely, though unproven, origin relates to an old inn game called ‘Cat’ accompanied by fiddle music.
Fertility Symbolism in Shoe Rhyme
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(00:07:26)
  • Key Takeaway: The ’little old woman who lived in a shoe’ reflects an old British superstition where shoes symbolized female fertility.
  • Summary: In British folklore, shoes were personal items representing maidenhood until marriage, often hidden under long skirts. An old custom involved women trying to conceive wearing the shoes of a recent mother to improve fertility chances. A giant shoe, therefore, logically suggests an overwhelming number of children.
Cooties’ Link to WWI Lice
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(00:08:38)
  • Key Takeaway: The childhood game of ‘Cooties’ originated from the World War I nickname for body lice contracted by soldiers in the trenches.
  • Summary: The term ‘cooties’ may derive from the Malay word ‘kutu’ (biting insects). The concept gained traction in the US after WWI, becoming an imaginary playground disease often tied to fears of the opposite gender. Its popularity in the 1950s coincided with the fear surrounding the non-vaccine-preventable disease Polio.
Jump Rope Rhymes Reflecting Crises
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(00:12:04)
  • Key Takeaway: Jump rope rhymes often serve as historical markers, directly reflecting major societal crises like the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic and WWII.
  • Summary: The rhyme ‘I had a little bird, its name was Enza’ appeared widely during the 1918 influenza pandemic. During the 1930s WPA cuts, children chanted about WPA payrolls, and during WWII, they referenced Nazi submarines. These rhymes allow children, who lack control, to sing about the scary realities they witness.
Light as a Feather Levitation Ritual
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(00:14:10)
  • Key Takeaway: The slumber party ritual ‘Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board’ was documented in 1665 France, predating modern records by centuries.
  • Summary: Samuel Pepys documented the ritual in 1665, where French girls levitated a boy and later a large cook using synchronized finger lifting and a chant. The levitation works due to synchronized movement distributing weight evenly across surprisingly strong fingers, not magic. The ritual may have originated from 14th or 15th-century mystery plays depicting biblical resurrections.
Miss Mary Mack as a Coffin
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(00:21:12)
  • Key Takeaway: The American clapping game rhyme about Miss Mary Mack, dressed in black with silver buttons down her back, is likely a riddle describing a coffin.
  • Summary: The silver buttons are interpreted as gleaming silver nails on a coffin. While some theories link the rhyme to the USS Merrimack or a circus performer, no historical figure supports these claims. The riddle format suggests the coffin interpretation is the intended dark meaning.
Mother Goose Origin Story Fabricated
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(00:29:57)
  • Key Takeaway: The popular story attributing nursery rhymes to Elizabeth Foster Goose, whose son-in-law Thomas Fleet published ‘Mother Goose’s Melodies,’ was invented by Fleet’s great-grandson.
  • Summary: The phrase ‘Mother Goose’ was already used in 17th-century France (Contumer Loire) to mean ‘old wives’ tales.’ The tale of Elizabeth Goose having numerous children and singing poorly was fabricated by Thomas Fleet’s great-grandson, not passed down historically. Mother Goose is ultimately an invented character used to frame folklore.