{"id":5059,"date":"2013-08-12T22:49:25","date_gmt":"2013-08-13T06:49:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/?p=5059"},"modified":"2013-08-12T22:49:25","modified_gmt":"2013-08-13T06:49:25","slug":"was-there-really-a-mary-who-had-a-little-lamb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2013\/08\/12\/was-there-really-a-mary-who-had-a-little-lamb\/","title":{"rendered":"Was There Really a Mary Who Had a Little Lamb?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about nursery rhymes and whether they are true or false. <\/p>\n

NURSERY RHYME URBAN LEGEND<\/span><\/u>: There actually was a Mary who had a little lamb. <\/p>\n

Like I noted in the last nursery rhyme urban legend<\/a>, for almost all nursery rhymes we really don’t know the origin of the rhyme.<\/p>\n

In the case of “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” we appear to know a little<\/strong> bit more than others.<\/p>\n

Here’s the rhyme (the adapted version that was set to music in the 1830s)…<\/p>\n

Mary had a little lamb,
\nlittle lamb, little lamb,
\nMary had a little lamb,
\nwhose fleece was white as snow.
\nAnd everywhere that Mary went,
\nMary went, Mary went,
\nand everywhere that Mary went,
\nthe lamb was sure to go.<\/p>\n

It followed her to school one day
\nschool one day, school one day,
\nIt followed her to school one day,
\nwhich was against the rules.
\nIt made the children laugh and play,
\nlaugh and play, laugh and play,
\nit made the children laugh and play
\nto see a lamb at school.<\/p>\n

And so the teacher turned it out,
\nturned it out, turned it out,
\nAnd so the teacher turned it out,
\nbut still it lingered near,
\nAnd waited patiently about,
\npatiently about, patiently about,
\nAnd waited patiently about
\ntill Mary did appear.<\/p>\n

“Why does the lamb love Mary so?”
\nLove Mary so? Love Mary so?
\n“Why does the lamb love Mary so,”
\nthe eager children cry.
\n“Why, Mary loves the lamb, you know.”
\nThe lamb, you know, the lamb, you know,
\n“Why, Mary loves the lamb, you know,”
\n the teacher did reply.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, WAS there a real Mary?
\n
\nWhile there have been some challengers to the “throne,” it is generally accepted that there actually WAS a “Mary” who brought a lamb to school with her one day, which caused much amusement.<\/p>\n

That Mary was Mary Sawyer, who lived in Sterling, Massachusetts and was born in 1806 and died in 1889. <\/p>\n

Her age DOES call into question, though, exactly when the rhyme was first written.<\/p>\n

The first published version of the rhyme was by Sarah Josepha Hale in 1830.<\/p>\n

However, if Sawyer was born in 1806, the actual incident had to have been a number of years before 1830.<\/p>\n

Sawyer herself recalled that a young man named John Roulstone wrote the first few lines of the poem at the time, and that Hale wrote the rest of the poem years later, with Hale’s just being the one which got published.<\/p>\n

Naturally, there are those who argue that Hale wrote the whole thing. <\/p>\n

Mary’s claim of being “the” Mary has been basically accepted, though.<\/p>\n

Here is a statue of “her” lamb in Sterling, Massachusetts…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/center><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/center><\/p>\n

(Thanks to thebudman623<\/a> for the pictures of the statue)<\/p>\n

It’s amazing to think that we appear to actually know the name of the “Mary” from “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”<\/p>\n

The legend is… <\/p>\n

STATUS<\/span><\/u>: Surprisingly True<\/p>\n

Feel free (heck, I implore you!) to write in with your suggestions for future installments! My e-mail address is bcronin@legendsrevealed.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about nursery rhymes and whether they are true or false. NURSERY RHYME URBAN LEGEND: There actually was a Mary who had a little lamb. Like I noted in the last nursery rhyme urban legend, for almost all nursery rhymes we really don’t know […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[28,33],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7MjBq-1jB","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5061,"url":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2013\/08\/13\/did-airline-passengers-really-sue-southwest-airlines-over-the-use-of-a-nursery-rhyme-by-a-flight-attendant\/","url_meta":{"origin":5059,"position":0},"title":"Did Airline Passengers Really Sue Southwest Airlines Over the Use of a Nursery Rhyme by a Flight Attendant?","date":"August 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about nursery rhymes and whether they are true or false. 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