I do not think that nursery rhyme
means what you think it means. Let's talk about that. ♪ (intro music) ♪ - Good mythical morning!
- Today, we tackle nursery rhymes. That's right, the cornerstone of every
child's sweet, innocent childhood. Well, those sweet little innocent nursery
rhymes - actually it turns out many of them have a dark underbelly. The origins
can be downright nasty, bizarre, weird and today we're gonna find out who knows
those origins better as we play... aka Okay so we're gonna present nursery rhymes
to one another and you get points for how - close you are to the actual origin story.
- The one with the most points at the end wins a baby! Rhett, you're
going first. Explain this: - Okay, so...
- Sweet, right? This one is not about the past,
this one is about the future. - Oh okay.
- It is prophetic, apocalyptic, if you will. - Yes.
- Mary is a figure that will rise up against the government Contrary and
she will be the first person in history to figure out how to grow actual people. The
key is cockle shells. Silver bells is how you know they're ready. And
yes, they are all women. - She grows pretty maids.
- She grows only women, only women in the future. I'm searching my details of the correct
answer and the only overlap between that - one and yours is the word Mary.
- Well I got something right. Mary Contrary is actually Queen Mary I aka
Bloody Mary who had a lot of people killed in her "garden" which is a graveyard,
using her torture devices which were silver bells, cockle shells, and the
maiden which beheaded people. - Oh that makes a lot more sense.
- But just for sheer creativity and being - future forward, I'mma give you twenty-five points.
- Woo! - Alright Link--
- Lay one on me. Here's yours: Of course. - Okay, okay, right off the bat--
- You've heard this. Jack has a crown because he is King
Jackson of the Scots and why's he so thirsty? 'Cause he's got some sort of
stomach bug and Queen Jill's gotta take him to the hospital up the hill but hold
on, don't drive so fast, you're going over the hill, you're going over the edge and
we're both dying! And it's a sad ending. - It is sad.
- He was just dehydrated, why you gotta go - over the railing, Jill?
- Just dehydrated. Okay, a dehydrated king. - Link, that's not correct. The origins--
- Really? Actually the origins are disputed so I'm
gonna give you some points for that-- - Well exactly!
- in a second. But basically there's a town in England, Kilmersdon, that says
there was an actual Jack and Jill. Jill got pregnant out of wedlock, oh big no-no,
then she died and - oh, no - then Jack died then Jill died after they had the
baby, I don't know why this is a legend you wanna remember, but the kid lived and
had to deal with this nursery rhyme. But there is a disputed origin that says that
it has something to do with a king so just - for that I'm gonna give you thirty-eight points.
- Oh! Alright, yeah! Alright, thank you for that. - Anti-child-on-wedlock nursery rhyme.
- Yes. I get it. Here's another one: - Yes.
- This one always seemed oddly horrific to - me but does the darkness go even deeper?
- Before we put stars on Christmas trees, - we put babies.
- (crew laughs) - They called 'em Christmas babies.
- You're on the right track. Put 'em at the top of the tree and all Christmas
trees were outdoors before homes existed. - Existed, yes.
- So the wind would blow and the baby would calm down, they'd be like, oh this
is really working, until the wind blew too hard, the tree breaks, the baby dies.
Actually, the number one cause of infant mortality in the Old World,
Christmas babies. - (crew laughs)
- (Rhett makes clicking sound) - What?
- Yeah. - Alright, very festive answer. But wrong.
King James II of England could not produce an heir. He couldn't help make a baby
so they snuck a baby into the birthing chamber and said it was his baby. The wind
and the cradle falling is the predicting of his "undoing" which came
true, he was deposed in 1688. - Historical.
- That one's boring, yours is great. I'mma - give you at least forty-three points.
- Wow! - Because, let's replace that one right now.
- Okay, here you go, Link: Okay, all of them gone to the fair. This
is the first World's Fair in 1851 where they unveiled the first prototype of what?
The hot tub. Step right up, people. It's a tub big enough for three grown
men of various professions! - Yes.
- Here you go. And the people would buy - tickets and look at this thing.
- Yeah they would. - Little fact, just a little fact.
- Little fact, you mean a little one. The candlestick maker went back home,
started his own business and he is none other than Edward Jacuzzi himself. Great story, entirely wrong. The earliest
version of this rhyme actually was three - maids in a tub. That's right.
- I like that one better. In the 14th century, there was a traveling
show, there were traveling shows, in which scantily clad, if not
completely naked, ladies-- - Getting clean?
- would perform, I guess in tubs? - But you would buy a ticket to that?
- You had to buy a ticket to it. - Yes!
- And the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker, sort of the, you know,
the pillars of society, if you will, were - Were there.
- there at the fair. - Scandal.
- So you got fair right. There is a tub, - it was probably at least lukewarm.
- Yeah and you bought a ticket! - Fifty-one points, Link. Congratulations.
- Oh man-- - You broke fifty.
- I almost nailed that one. Link, these are not mice, these are men.
And I'm not talking about Lennie, I'm talking about, these are dudes who were
after the farmer's wife. And this was a time in history, it's the 1400's or
so, where every guy had a rattail. - (crew laughing)
- And what you would do to shame a man and embarrass him is to cut his rattail off.
She did not want to commit infidelity, she cut the rattails off, that gave the signal
to their wives these jokers are trying to go around my back, and they blinded them.
Their wives blinded them so this is just three dudes that had rattails,
that's all. Nothing to see here. - Infidelity.
- You're right about three dudes. The farmer's wife is Bloody Mary back
at it again with the white Vans! - Really? Wow.
- No. Back at it again with the executions. The three mice were three Anglican bishops
that she did not their tails off, they didn't have tails. She just
burned 'em at the stake. - That's it.
- I guess that does get rid of your tail. - Man, I love rattails in a good origin story though.
- Yeah you do. So I'mma give you... fifty-one points. - Thanks for that.
- Did you give me fifty-one? - Yeah that's where you got that number.
- That's where I got it from. Alright hey, - I gave it though.
- Okay Link, here's your-- - Give and take.
- big chance to take it home. Mm okay. Alright, this is a propaganda piece. In
the 15th century France, the demand for - mulberry pies was off the charts.
- Okay. So farmers came up with this song for
the kids to sing to get them to pick mulberries without getting paid, free
child labor, to make the pies. Propaganda. They would actually put it on posters.
14th century, 15th century France, I believe. Link, you're really right in one
area and that is about kids-- - Right, right.
- doing weird stuff. - Exactly.
- Because in-- - Go with that.
- 19th century England, there was a prison in Wakefield that decided to add females
to its population and they brought their kids to work with them. They brought their
kids into the prison. And this was a-- - Yeah.
- rhyme to get-- - Why do I look surprised? I knew this.
- the kids to exercise by going around the - mulberry bush. You, my friend--
- Exercise propaganda! Bazingee! - Seventy-eight points.
- Oh that means I gotta win this baby, right? - I think you got more points in every
round than me so congratulations, you win an actual human baby. Let's bring it in. Oh here it is! Woo! Oh and
it comes with a car seat. Look at that. You want me to tell you
where that baby comes from, Link? (shushing) Thanks for liking,
commenting, and subscribing. You know what time it is. - I'm Zoe.
- And I'm Elias. - And this is Starlight, the miniature horse.
- And we're from Ottawa, Ontario. (both) And it's time to spin
the Wheel of Mythicality! We have perfected the art of taking and
posting perfectly square pictures. You oughta see how square they are and if
you're interested, you can actually go to - @rhettandlink, our Instagram, to see it.
- I'mma put my baby on there! Click through to Good Mythical More where
we're gonna have a Skype video chat with the artist who wrote our
most favorite song ever. Lazy lobsters! Hey, what's this new uh... - That's a baby.
- What's this new baby here? It's a human baby, I don't wanna
touch it, I'm afraid I'll hurt it. Why are we sitting next to it in this hot
tub of a pot? It's like hot in here, man. Is it getting warmer to you? Yeah but it's fine. I mean, I'm not gonna
do anything about it. What am I gonna do? - Just sit here.
- I like it hot. - Yeah.
- I like it real hot. - You're getting pink, man.
- But it's a little hotter than I was planning on. (Rhett mimicking flatline sound) Captioned by Lovely Luna
GMM Captioning Team
