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Hey, Rusty!
Whatever put Humpty Dumpty into your head?
However, your question about the horses' participation stimulated my interest.......and so I've been looking up the story behind "Humpty Dumpty".
And seemingly...nowhere does it say (apart from illustrations in "Alice Through the Looking Glass" ) that Humpty was an egg!
Humpty Dumpty was apparently a cannon used by the Royalists during the English Civil War!
The cannon was blown off the walls during a battle and, as it was so large, it was impossible for it to be recovered by both the men and the horses!
The horses presumably being needed in the attempt to retrieve the cannon?
It makes sense now, doesn't it?

I am slightly worried about you, rusty! Do you often think about nursery rhymes?
But you have a very good point. I understand that the pome (deliberate!) was originally a riddle, and the horses represent force, or power. We think of HD as an egg because that's how he's portrayed but what if we had never seen an illustration?

I used to be confused about vinegar and brown paper , but apparently brown paper was thick and absorbent in the days that nursery thyme was written and vinegar good for cleaning wounds as water could be contaminated and vinegar not- and probably killed quite a lot of bacteria.

Me, I'm all for Wee Willie Winkie! My book on the Glasgow Necropolis says he died poor and ill. Like most, I guess, in 1872.

Well, ladies,
To me it is a puzzle.
If Humpty was an egg or a cannonball, what was he doing "sat on a wall"?
I always presumed he had climbed up on to it.
Can an egg climb walls.
Cannon balls could punch a hole in one.
The vinegar/bacteria theory makes good sense.
It is odd what gets into our/my head.
I saw the article in the Press about the poor goose who was shot and immediately thought of Aunt Rhody.
Now I can't get the song out of my head!

Hi, Rusty!
According to some historians this is how the story goes.....
In 1648, the city of Colchester was under the control of the Royalists, who wished for King Charles I to be able to rule the country without Parliament.
In order to fortify the city against attack from the Parliamentarians (the group who supported Parliament and wished to oust Charles I), they erected several large cannons on the walls surrounding the city.
On June 15, 1648, the cannon referred to as “Humpty Dumpty” was positioned on the wall.
By this time, the Parliamentarians had surrounded and laid siege to the city, so Humpty was used to bombard the enemy and prevent a full-scale assault.
However, then a Parliamentarian cannonball blew apart the wall underneath Humpty Dumpty.
This collapsed the fortification and sent Humpty Dumpty tumbling to the ground.
This is where the king's men and the horses came in......as I said previously!

Please don't go tell Aunt Rhody about the goose being shot......

Hello, Elle,
I preferred Humpty when he was an egg.
I would say I would not be the only person in the country who thought of Aunt Rhody when they read about the poor goose being shot.
A terrible event in any case.

Yes, Rusty, it was indeed a terrible thing to happen to the duck.
(although actually at the time of reading about it, I didn't think of Aunt Rhody!)
There is a huge reward out for information about the gunmen - and did you see the photograph of the telephone box with all the flowers left in memoriam - and the letters from children?
There is even a photo of the goose "helping" ducks to cross the road, by holding up the traffic.
How could anyone do such a senseless cruel thing?
It is a sad, sad, world in which we live!

Sorry, senior moment typo ......... "to happen to the goose"!

Hello, Elle!
A dreadful thing to happen.
Hope the culprits are found and put before the courts.
The Madeira folk have just landed at Edinburgh!

Hi, Rusty!
It's good that they are back safely!
Does it take long to get from Edinburgh to home?
I expect that the girls will assure their dad that they "looked after" you very well - and will not even mention being locked out!

Good morning, Elle!
Hard frost here.
We are roughly an hours drive North of Edinburgh Airport.
The girls were madly tidying up "before Mum gets home"!
The lock-out is a secret!
The girls and me coped fine and we were in constant communication. What did we ever do before mobile phones came along. Of course, the girls have never known life without mobiles, they are too young.
Going to have a quiet day.
Just some minor "slinging" to be done before Maggie and the painter come tomorrow!