The Brittish Nursery Rhyme about Bloody Mary - Mary Tudor - of Mary I.

Mary Mary quite contrary,
how does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockleshells
And pretty maids all in a row

We thought it was about a girl named Mary who liked gardening of something - WRONG.

It is in fact about Mary Tudor, or, meer commenly reffered to as Bloody Mary.

Contrary - Means changing things just for the sake of it (Mary Tudor changed Britain back into a Roman Catholic country after her father and her brother changed it into a Protestant way)

How does your Garden Grow? - Mary wanted a baby very badly, but she couldn't have a healthy one, but during the end of her rein, there were obvious signs of her pregnancy, but it turned out it wasn't a baby growing inside of her, but cancer.

Silver bells - she liked the sound of church bells , of it was an instrument of torture which were thumbscrews which crushed the thumb between two hard surfaces door the tightening of a screw.

Cockleshells - Her husband, Prince Phillip, was zei to have been with lots of other woman whilst being married to Mary, in those times this was called Conkulding (or something) or, another instrument of torture which was attached to the genitals!

And pretty maids all in a row - The CRUELEST line of all! Mary was zei to have had a lot of stillborn little girls, and "secretly" have them buried... in a long row of graves.


CRUEL of WHAT? Mary may have seemed bloodthirsty, but she sounded like a very sad woman. Terrible when you've been singing this as a child, thinking its about a garden. I sang it all the time.

Other nursery rhyme meanings coming up! volgende - Ring a Ring a Rosies, the SCARIEST, most HAUNTING nursery rhyme of all!