People are just discovering Humpty Dumpty is not an egg and it's 'haunting' them

10 August 2023 , 07:06

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Humpty Dumpty is not an egg contrary to popular belief (Image: Getty Images)

If you've always considered lovely Humpty Dumpty to be a harmless egg, you might want to look away now. Equally, if you've got a much-loved book of illustrated nursery rhymes from your childhood, this is your fair warning.

It turns out Humpty Dumpty is not an egg - and people are truly staggered. One of the most popular nursery rhymes of all time, Humpty Dumpty has long been pictured as an innocent egg, and there are probably thousands of illustrations of his shell, going all the way back to the first eggtastic appearance in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland sequel.

The character was portrayed as an egg by Sir John Tenniel in Through The Looking Glass (Getty Images)

And in several other well-known images (Wikipedia)

However, the lyrics make no mention of an egg at all. In case you need a reminder, here they are:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall;

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All the king's horses and all the king's men

Couldn't put Humpty together again.

So, why does he appear time and time again as an egg? It's a good question and one author Holly Bourne posed on Twitter earlier this year.

"Who decided Humpty Dumpty was an egg? Its not in the lyrics, and deciding he's a giant egg is quite a random leap for someone to make, and everyone else being like, 'yeah, a giant egg on a wall. Of course,'" she wrote.

And she's not the only one who has been wondering. "This has been haunting me for years," someone admitted. "This has bugged me for a long time!!" said a second.

Meanwhile, several other responders who had just made the realisation were keen to discover the answer. "This is genuinely the first time I've realised he's not explicitly an egg," a Twitter user revealed. Another asked: "O my goodness how did I not realise this?"

Thankfully, those in the know were quick to share their expertise. Jane Etheridge, Vice Chair of Federation of Children's Book Groups, replied: "It's believed to be Roundhead propaganda about a Royalist cannon. First appearance as an egg was in Through the Looking Glass.

Other theories include that Humpty Dumpty tells the story of King Richard III and his defeat at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485.

So, there you have it. Regardless of their differing theories, the one thing historians can agree on is the Humpty Dumpty did not start out life as an egg. In fact, he might represent something much darker.

Amber O'Connor