EVERY parent will have sung the nursery rhyme ‘Humpty Dumpty’ on repeat to their child at one time or another.
After all, it’s that classic story of an egg who fell off a wall and couldn’t be put back together again.
Wrong! It turns out we’ve spent years being lied to…
While many nursery rhyme books depict Humpty Dumpty as an egg with human-like features such as a face, arms and legs, people are only just realising the much-loved character isn’t an egg after all.
And a closer look at the lyric shows there’s no evidence that he’s ever described as one.
So it’s no wonder baffled author Holly Bourne took to Twitter to question why he’s forever been portrayed as one.
“Who decided Humpty Dumpty was an egg?” she asked.
“It’s not in the lyrics, and deciding he’s a giant egg is quite a random leap for someone to make, and everyone else being like, ‘yeah, a giant egg on a wall. Of course.'”
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She continued: “Also, imagine having NO ARMY because they’re busy fixing a broken egg.
“The king sent literally EVERYONE out to save the giant egg who isn’t actually an egg, leaving the realm wide open for attack.”
Holly added: “We’ve just accepted the fan fiction egg version of Dumpty.”
It wasn’t long before the post was flooded with comments from confused and stunned social media users.
“This has troubled me for ages! Glad you put it out there,” wrote one.
A second penned: “I have ALWAYS wondered this.”
A third penned: “This has bugged me for a long time!!”
Meanwhile, a fourth added: “This has been haunting me for years.”
So if he’s not an egg, what actually is Humpty Dumpty?
Jane Etheridge, who is the Vice Chair of Federation of Children’s Book Groups, offered one popular theory.
“It’s believed to be Roundhead propaganda about a Royalist cannon,” she penned. “First appearance as an egg was in Through the Looking Glass.”
Meanwhile, another theory that’s circulated is that Humpty Dumpty is King Richard III and tells the story of his defeat at the 1485 Battle of Bosworth Field.