Dark Short Fiction
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And the occasional bottle of wine...
We're back! Veteran and new-to-the-hop Horror and Paranormal Authors gather together for a ghoulish party to celebrate everything that goes bump in the night! I'll have two small giveaways for those that comment on that certain post and a Grand Prize of a $20 Amazon Gift Card to all those who comment on any or all of my posts! And...I'm offering two e-books in an awesome multi-author Rafflecopter posted at the end of the post.
This year instead of writing a flash fiction story I've decided to post a few excerpts from my current WIP, FAVORS FOR THE DEAD, featuring a new character Spookie Millane. (Since it was my current WIP last year, I thought it best to keep writing and not get anymore distracted). My antagonist, Elliott Rothwell, enjoys creepifying nursery rhymes & sending them to his victims about their demise.
Rock-A-Bye Baby is a bit disturbing for obvious reasons. Could it have been the ramblings of extremely sleep-reprieved parents of a newborn? Who knows? But Elliott's version to a lover he feels has betrayed him, is much, much darker...
Rock a bye baby, from the rafter top
When the wind blows, you’ll pray it stop When the noose snaps, your body will fall Down you’ll come, dark secrets and all Forward and back, you sway and swing Life hanging by a heavy braid of string Rock a bye baby, do not you fear Never mind, my beloved, I’m right here Rock a bye baby, a struggle so violent Then your body goes limp, still and silent Eyes shut tight, last breath will cease Into slumber but never to rest in peace.
You have to give Queen Mary I of England some due. According to historians, two nursery rhymes are written about her. Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary and Three Blind Mice.
'Contrary' can/did (It wasn't really clear in my research) describe a murderous psychopath. Queen Mary, a devout Catholic killed hundreds of Protestants between 1553-1558 in order to keep England under the Pope's rule. The garden refers to the graveyard, silver bells and cockleshells were torture devices and the pretty maids all in a row...the people line up for the guillotine (nicknamed The Maiden). Three Blind Mice refers to two Protestant Bishops and the ArchBishop of Canterbury, who plotted to overthrow Queen Mary. They got caught. She didn't carve any body part off, but she did have them burned at the stake. I see why she was called Blood Mary.
While the nursery rhyme Elliott sends to Spookie, Hickory Dickory Dock, doesn't seem to have a twisted story to it, I did have fun researching the rhymes and the many verses that aren't common knowledge. That's what gave me the idea to write this post. I knew about London Bridge Falling Down (from a trip to London three years ago) and Ring Around the Rosie, but all the others, I found very interesting.
Here's a sampling of Elliot's Hickory Dickory Dock to Spookie. It's a long rhyme in it's original form and Elliott uses every verse to his advantage. I don't want to give away the end, so here are the first four verses:
Hickory Dickory Dock Spookie, be wise and watch the clock When the clock chimes one My patience will be done Hickory Dickory Dock Hickory Dickory Dock Heed the warning of the clock When it chimes two I’m coming for you Hickory Dickory Dock Hickory Dickory Dock Keep an eye on the clock When it chimes three Give back what belongs to me Hickory Dickory Dock Hickory Dickory Dock Spookie, listen to the clock When it chimes four You’ll be dead on the floor Hickory Dickory Dock
Do you have a favorite nursery rhyme? Or one that has always creeped you out? Do you know it's true meaning and does it have an ominous background? To enter to win my first giveaway, two enchanted soaps, and be entered for the Grand Prize of a $20 Amazon Gift Card, comment below. I'd love to hear from you.
Please check out the rest of the awesome authors participating in the hop.... And below that, enter the Rafflecopter...
24 Comments
10/10/2017 06:49:32 am
I've always been creeped out by Three Blind Mice. Violence and mice maiming, not pretty.
Debbie
10/10/2017 01:58:11 pm
I hear ya - I never liked that one either. I always felt bad for the mice :)
Maria Dalmau
10/10/2017 09:05:29 am
Maryan, Mary Quite Contrary is the one that always creeps me out.
Debbie
10/10/2017 01:59:04 pm
Agreed and now that I know what the true meaning behind it is, it's even worse....
Debbie
10/10/2017 02:00:02 pm
Thanks, Tia! Me too. It was fun to learn the history of the rhymes. 10/10/2017 01:14:48 pm
Nice and creepy! As if some of those old nursery rhymes weren't spooky enough... and the Tudor period is so fascinating!
Debbie
10/10/2017 02:00:52 pm
Thanks, Christine - They were fun to research and learn about and fun to rewrite a couple as well. 10/10/2017 02:03:57 pm
Creepy reading those verses in the tune they normally are while the words are so deranged.
Debbie
10/11/2017 05:13:24 am
Thanks, Patricia. Glad you stopped by.
Mary Preston
10/10/2017 04:23:57 pm
Ring O Rosies, but then it was all about plague, contagion and death.
Debbie
10/11/2017 05:14:17 am
Hi Mary - yes, Ring Around the Rosie was really the only one that I knew the true meaning of. Me and my cousins used to sing that all the time, along with London Bridge. Who knew???
Linda Romer
10/10/2017 04:48:00 pm
Old King Cole was a merry old soul and a merry old soul was he. He called for his pipe and he called for his bowl and he called for his fiddlers three.
Debbie
10/11/2017 05:14:51 am
Haha, a little cloudy indeed. I wonder what was in the pipe?
Zrinka
10/10/2017 05:16:15 pm
I've learned this about nursery rhymes in my children's lit class in college. Creepy they are and today we sing them to babies and kids are reciting them in their play. My favorite would be Humpty Dumpty, sat on the wall, Humpty-Dumpty had a great fall. All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty-Dumpty together again. Usually depicted as an egg though the rhyme doesn't state that, Humpty Dumpty is King Richard III of England, depicted as humpbacked in Tudor histories and particularly in Shakespeare's play, and who was defeated, despite his armies, at Bosworth Field in 1485.
Debbie
10/11/2017 05:16:39 am
Hi Zrinka, I didn't know that about Humpty Dumpty. I think people that were born and raised in Europe probably knew the true meanings of the rhymes much more than anyone here in the states. I just learned about a lot of them in my recent research. I found out about London Bridge and Ring O the Rosie just a few years ago.
Debbie
10/12/2017 05:02:16 am
Thanks, Nina :)
Judy Cox
10/11/2017 01:38:12 pm
Thanks for enlightening me about how many of the rhymes came about. I also like some of the other versions.
Debbie
10/12/2017 05:03:04 am
One the best things about being a writer is doing research and coming across unexpected finds. This was one of those times. Thanks!!
Penny Mooney
10/14/2017 11:33:12 pm
Wow! This was very informative. Thank you for that.
Debbie
10/15/2017 05:29:33 am
Thanks for stopping by, Penny. I thought it was very interesting, too :) 10/15/2017 11:17:37 am
I'm enjoying the Frights Blog Hop enormously. I've been traveling for almost three months now and my connectivity isn't always great. But I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you and all the participants how much fun it's been.
Debbie
10/15/2017 01:57:27 pm
Ah, yes, the famous Bloody Mary. My husband is a fan, I'm am not. Don't love tomato juice... Leave a Reply. |
Debbie Christiana
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