Perpetual Ruminations

What Was "Mother" Thinking

As many already know, I'm not normal, this entry just proves that theory correct. But I digress.

Sipping coffee this morning as I strolled down Notification Lane and up Newsfeed Street, I had some odd and unexplainable thoughts of Mother Goose's Poetry. Actually, it was one poem in particular that intruded my thoughts:

Little boy blue,
Come blow your horn,
The sheep's in the meadow,
The cow's in the corn.
But where is the boy
Who looks after the sheep?
He's under a haystack,
Fast asleep.

Now, as a child, I kind of believed this hype, but as I got older I saw some discrepancies within the story as well as it not being written correctly. One thing is the grammar, The Sheep's in the meadow; is there only one sheep? Does it own the meadow? Does the same apply to the cow?

If I were Mother Goose, I would have written:

Hey, Little Boy Blue (a name)
Come and blow your horn
there are sheep in the meadow,
There are cows in the corn.

But, it's poetry, you can write it any damned way you want, right? Therefore, I overlooked that, figuring my writing is my style, and your writing is your style.

However, it doesn't explain why he was under the haystack sleeping. I mean, if he was tired he should have returned to bed. Maybe he wasn't supposed to be napping, so he headed to the hay pile to catch a few z's unobserved. But, wouldn't he be on the pile of hay? I can't see sleeping under it; I've handled enough hay to know it's scratchy and makes you itch, it's also dusty and makes you sneeze, a lot!

I'm not believing he crawled under a big pile of hay to sleep. I believe, he was in fact, up in the haymow with alternative motives. With this in mind, let's see what was really transpiring...

Hey, Little Boy Blue
Come and blow your horn
there are sheep in the meadow,
There are cows in the corn.
So where is that boy
Who looks after the sheep?
Why he's up in the haymow
With Little Bo Peep!

That explains everything. Little Bo Peep lost her sheep because they were in the meadow with Little Boy Blue's sheep. She likely let them in so she could sneak off to see him. In fact, my sources have disclosed, they conspired this plot together when they snuck off to meet behind the outhouse at church on Sunday.

One last thing to consider. Why was he supposed to blow his horn? One loud blast on that battered brass instrument would have cows and sheep stampeding all over God's green earth!

Perhaps I should have titled this, The Mother Goose Conspiracies (I have more).