Thumb in a pie
'Little Jack Horner' : NPR
Reason Behind the Rhyme: 'Little Jack Horner' Host Debbie Elliott and Chris Roberts dissect the meaning of the nursery rhyme "Little Jack Horner." It's about a real estate swindle in 16th-century England. Roberts is the author of Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind the Rhyme.
Heard on All Things Considered
Reason Behind the Rhyme: 'Little Jack Horner'
Host Debbie Elliott and Chris Roberts dissect the meaning of the nursery rhyme "Little Jack Horner." It's about a real estate swindle in 16th-century England. Roberts is the author of Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind the Rhyme .
DEBBIE ELLIOTT, host:
This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Debbie Elliott.
You think the real estate market is treacherous today, try England in the late 1530s. That's what the nursery rhyme "Little Jack Horner" is really all about.
(Soundbite of music)
ELLIOTT: Here to explain is our London librarian Chris Roberts. He's the author of "Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind the Rhyme," and he's at our London bureau.
Hello again, Chris.
Mr. CHRIS ROBERTS (Author, "Heavy Words Lightly Thrown"): Hello. Hi, Debbie.
ELLIOTT: So who was Little Jack Horner?
Mr. ROBERTS: Little Jack Horner was actually Thomas Horner. The name Jack comes up in nursery rhymes a lot, usually to reflect a slightly knavish character, a bit of a ne'er-do-well. So I suspect that's why they changed his name to Jack from Thomas.
(Reading) `Little Jack Horner sat in a corner eating his Christmas pie. He stuck in a thumb and pulled out a plum and said, "What a good boy am I."'
Where to begin with this? This is talking about the dissolution of the monasteries, Henry VIII taking property from the Catholic Church.
Jack, as we know, is actually called Thomas Horner. Now he was a steward to the Abbot of Glastonbury during the reign of Henry VIII. This is how the story goes: He was entrusted to take some title deeds of properties to Henry VIII as a bribe so the abbot could keep the main monastery, but was prepared to give away some of the lesser properties.
Now the title deeds were held and sealed in a pie, and Jack's off to London. But instead of delivering the bribe to Henry VIII, he helps himself to the pie, puts his hand in, pulls out a plum piece of real estate--in this case, a place called Mells Manor--and thinks he's very clever for doing this. That's one version of it, that Jack is a thief and he's stealing the bribe that's intended for the king. And he...
ELLIOTT: So was this common? Is there historical evidence to support the theory that bribes were often delivered in pies?
Mr. ROBERTS: It comes up bewilderingly often in nursery rhyme.
And it's--I think the pie is used as a metaphor. I think it's not necessarily what we would think of as a pie. It's just referring to a means of concealing a document, concealing anything. It could be jewels in some cases. Now the Horner family, who incidentally lived in Mells Manor until the 20th century, are quite outraged at this slander of their ancestor and understandably so.
And there are actually two rhymes that mention Mr. Horner. The first one that mentions him is: `Hopton(ph), Horner, Smith and Finn, when the abbots went out, they came in.' And a much more likely reading of what happened is that Thomas Horner, along with the other people mentioned in the previous rhyme--Hopton and Smith and Finn--were up-and-coming gentry. They were Protestant, they were local merchants doing quite well for themselves in the area around Glastonbury, and that they bought the property. You could see it as an early example of gentrification.
They bought the property at the time admittedly at a knockdown rate, and admittedly the land had been stolen from the Catholic Church by Henry VIII. This seems to be what happened after the dissolution of the monasteries. The king didn't keep all the land for himself; he distributed it amongst his supporters so he then could rely on their loyalty should anything occur in the future, should there be a rebellion in the future. I suspect, though I can't prove this, that the popular `Little Jack Horner sat in a corner, eating his Christmas pie' version is actually the Catholic take on proceedings there.
ELLIOTT: Chris Roberts is the author of "Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind the Rhyme," and he's a librarian at Lambeth College in South London.
Thank you, Chris.
Mr. ROBERTS: Thank you, Debbie.
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Little Jack Horner/Little Miss Muffet (Medley)
The Nursery Rhymes Collections 1-4 contain a total of 277 children's songs. Each double CD album showcases the highest quality children's music ever recorded with a total playing time in excess of 10 hours!
Little Jack Horner
Sat in the corner
Eating his Christmas pie,
He stuck in his thumb
And pulled out a plum and said
"What a good boy am I
What a good boy am I"
Little Miss Muffet
Sat on her tuffet,
Eating her curd and whey;
Along came a spider,
And sat down beside her,
Frightened Miss Muffet away, oh yeah
Frightened Miss Muffet away
Little Jack Horner
Sat in the corner
Eating his Christmas pie,
He stuck in his thumb
And pulled out a plum and said
"What a good boy
What a good boy
What a good boy am I"
Words: Traditional
Music: Ian J Watts
Origin and background
We have joined together 2 historical nursery rhymes to one song: Little Jack Horner and Little Miss Muffet.
Both rhymes sound similar and both rhymes use the same metre. Ian J Watts has set the new songs to music.
The first part of "Little Jack Horner" is about a boy eating Christmas pie. He sticks his fingers into the pie and pulls out a plum which is very naughty of course but the boy seems to be pleased with himself and says: "What a good boy am I." So far so good but the rhyme seems a bit pointless. There must be another meaning because if these lines were pure nonsense they certainly would have disappeared at some time.
This is a possible explanation: Little Jack Horner refers to the secretary of the Bishop of Glastboury, Richard Whiting (1461 - 1539). The bishop was concerned about the expropriation of the monasteries arranged by Henry VIII. We mentioned him before, King Henry VIII, the father of Mary I Tudor, who was kept back from the thrown due to one of the many marriages of her father and became Queen of England later on, trying to restore Roman Catholism in England (see Mary, Mary quite contrary).
But back to the bishop and his worries regarding the menacing expropriation of Glastboury. To forestall the threat of expropriation, he sent his secretary (Jack Horner) to King Henry VIII, with a cake, in which the deeds of manors were baked in. The most valuable of these documents, the Manor of Mells, is the plum, which he pulled out of the cake.
However, Richard Whiting failed and was accused of treachery because he did not officially abondan Catholism. Jack Horner was called as a witness when the trial took place and he incriminated the Bishop. At the end of the trial Jack Horner was given the Manor of Mells and his family remained owner of the estate up to the 20th century. There is another Nursery Rhyme dealing with the subject:
Hopton, Horner, Smith and Finn,
when the abbots went out, they came in.
This is another proof that there might be some truth within the legend. Horner stands in a row with a series of commercially successful Protestants: Hopton, Smith and Finn.
All of them purchased land at a very low price after it has been taken away from the Catholic Church.
Next Song
Top Designer Cake
Ornaments can add a delicious personality to ordinary baked goods
28 Sep. 2016 Electronic version of the newspaper "Vladivostok" No. 4010 (146) dated September 28. 2016
Pie is not only a delicious dish that the hostess is proud of, it is a huge scope for imagination. Even if there is no special occasion and you want to make an interesting dish on a weekday, you only need to make a little effort - and your pastries will take on an original and completely unique look. Today, with the help of the baby.ru website, we will reveal several secrets of decorating pies.
It couldn't be easier
Any cake can be cut with circles of dough, and it will immediately become elegant.
Braiding
Baked braids look great and anyone can make them. We cut a layer of dough into long narrow pieces and weave a braid.
If desired, before weaving, the dough strips can be twisted along the axis to make beautiful spirals.
Lay a braid woven from strips of dough along the edge of the pie moistened with water or a broken egg.
If a special dough roller is available, the strips can be cut with curved edges.
Zigzag
Zigzags are easy to make, but they will make the cake look completely different. By pressing with your fingers, you can make a wavy edge with rounded edges.
Checkers
We cut the edge of the cake with scissors and bend it in and out in a checkerboard pattern.
Colander
For semi-open pies, you can cut out frequent round or figured holes in the upper layer of the dough to make a lacy “colander” through which the filling will look appetizingly.
Fork edge
Trim the edges of the dough flush with the edge of the pie tin. Press the dough against the edge of the pan with a four-pronged fork. Walk all over the curb.
When pressed, the tines of the fork can be held in the direction of the radii, or at an angle, or rotated left and right for a herringbone pattern.
Ribbed edge
Place the index finger of one hand on the outside of the curb. Gently clasp it with the index and thumb of the other hand - you will get a frill. Repeat the same around the entire edge. There should be 5 mm between each frill.
Sharp grooved edge
Place the index finger of one hand on the inside of the curb. Grasp it tightly with the index and thumb of the other hand - you will get a groove. Repeat the same around the edge of the pie. There should be 5 mm between the grooves.
Twisted string
Place your thumb at an angle to the edge of the dough. Then grab the dough between your thumb and forefinger knuckle. Place your thumb in the groove left by your index finger. Pinch. Repeat the same steps around the entire pie.
Autumn version
Prepare the dough for the closed pie. Roll out a large ball of dough into a layer and place it in a mold. Trim the dough flush with the edge of the mold. Roll out the second ball into a layer to a thickness of 2 mm.
Cut the leaves out of this layer with a knife. Use the blunt side of a knife to poke the veins into the leaves. Lightly brush the edges of the dough with water. Press the leaves to the edge of the dough.
Dough braids cut from a thin layer of dough, stripes and various figures can decorate the entire top surface of closed pies.
Whiten the decor
To achieve a lighter color of the decorating overlays (in contrast to the base), protein dough can be used.
We make it like this: take wheat flour - 3.5 cups (500 grams), egg whites - 1 cup (250 grams). Pass the flour through a sieve into the mixing bowl and add the egg whites. Turn on the mixer at low speed and mix until the dough becomes elastic. Then we wrap the dough in a film so that it does not dry out if it does not immediately go to work.
Browned crust
Add 1/4 to 1 incomplete teaspoon of sugar (stir until dissolved) to a beaten egg or yolk to grease pastries - this will allow you to get a particularly beautiful color of decorative elements.
The more sugar dissolved, the brighter the color after baking (due to caramelization of sugar), but there should be no undissolved crystals in the mixture. If the sugar is not completely dissolved, you can add a little water or milk and mix thoroughly.
Romance is edible
Cut out hearts with cookie cutters and put them on top of the cake - a great idea for people who are in love with each other and with cakes. You can also use flower molds.
Cut out - you can also paint
To make the cake look even brighter, decorative elements can be easily painted. Put the yolk and drops of various food colorings on a plate. Mix the yolk with food coloring.
With a brush, apply a mixture of yolk and dyes to the leaves (hearts, pigtails, and so on). We spread the painted elements along the edge of the cake moistened with water or its center.
Author: Kristina MURLIEVA
❶ How beautiful to make a cake :: JustLady.
ru A beautiful, fragrant and lush cake becomes a real decoration of the table and a truly long-awaited event at the table. Moreover, in such a cake, every little thing is important - even how the edges are pinched. The times when the cake was closed by pinching the edges with a finger are long gone. Today there are different ways to turn the edge of an ordinary pie into a real work of art.
Do you want to constantly impress your guests with the original look of pies? Learn to pinch them in a new way. Moreover, it is not so difficult. Kitchen experts offer their own options for interesting pinches that will help decorate the cake.
So, for example, you can make a pigtail around the edge. To do this, it is enough to slightly moisten the edges with water. Then take the remaining dough and divide it into 3 strips (you choose the width yourself). From these strips weave a pigtail, which is applied in a circle and fastened to the edges of the cake moistened with water.
Decorating the edges of the cake with leaves can be called a truly filigree work. Gather the dough scraps into a ball and roll it out on the table. Then carefully cut out the leaves. Moisten the edges of the cake with water and start attaching your blanks to them. In the process, lightly press the leaves with your fingers.
Check the edges of the pie. To do this, you will need culinary scissors and a little patience. Make cuts along the edge of the cake at a distance of about 1 cm. Start bending through one.
You can also decorate a cake with your fingers. So, for example, you can draw a sea wave. To do this, place the index and thumb of one hand on the edge of the cake at a distance of about 1 cm. Press the dough with your fingers and move your hand, forming a kind of wave along the edge of the cake.
The Openwork Spoon method will allow you to make the edge of the cake unusual and rounded. To do this, press the rounded tip along the edge of the cake, then lower the spoon lower.
