Offering a selection of more than 100 best-loved and widely known nursery rhymes, this book delves beneath the surface of the verses to interpret their meaning and reveal their historical origins. The rhymes are instantly recognizable, however the stories behind them are often unknown and always fascinating—frequently telling the stories of true historical events from a time when news was passed around verbally. With rhymes on topics ranging from the weather to the stars, journeys to food and drink to wise ways, each chapter presents the full and best-known version of the rhyme, followed by an explanation of its meaning and origins, along with the wider references the rhymes make to such topics as foods and culinary customs, historical events, or archetypes of folk and fairy tales.