Reading Notes: Nursery Rhymes: Love and Matrimony, Part B

For week 11, my reading notes will be discussing the nursery rhyme “Nursery Rhymes: Love and Matrimony”. The specific nursery rhyme I read and chose to write about is one that speaks of a man who tries to get this women to ‘walk abroad with him and talk with him’. With each attempt he tries to woo her and get her to accept his bargain of trade in order for him to get her to walk with him (be his companion). I thought it was a realistic rhyme that emphasized shallow, greedy people. He offers keys, luxurious, gold, and silver and it seems to be almost impossible for him to convince her to accompany him.

I figured this could be a fun cute story written about two kids at recess in elementary school. A young boy who continuously tries to get this girl's attention and bends over backwards for her just to receive some sort of reaction from her. It seems innocent (like the rhyme I will be basing it on) but will be able to get the point across of not relying on a one-sided relationship. The lesson will address these kinds of toxic relationships and how in long run they are not even close to a positive, mutualistic behavior. After the unmeasurable attempts the young boy gives up and realizes that it wasn’t him that was the problem. So later on, he finds another more friendlier classmate to play and hang out with during the rest of the recesses that year.

Bibliography: This story is part of the Nursery Rhymes unit. Story source: The Nursery Rhyme Book edited by Andrew Lang and illustrated by L. Leslie Brooke (1897).

School Children 

Link to picture