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"Ring-a-round the Rosie,
A pocket full of posies.
Ashes! Ashes!
We all fall down!"

Ring-a-round the rosie is a child's game, but is rumored to have a dark backstory connected with the black death.

"Ring-a-round the Rosie," The theory says this refers to a ring-shaped red rash that appeared on the victims of the black death.

"A pocket full of posies." When the black death was around, people supposedly carried around small flowers or herbs to ward of the disease or mask the smell of the dead.

"Ashes! Ashes!" This could be a reference to the cremated remains of plague victims.

"We all fall down!" This is a direct reference to the widespread death caused by the black death.

Phew! This took forever to research and write, so enjoy!

k

(This answer took me an hour to put together.)

Thank you so much for the helpful feedback! I know this must have taken a lot of time out of your day :)

Baa Baa Black Sheep is thought to be about taxation. It doesn't get darker than that.

The black death, and taxes. One significantly more inevitable than the other.

Taxes are terrifying.

tf you know about taxes, you're like 6

I'm closer to 16. And I'm still scared to face them.

I do believe my 7 year old daughter came home from school saying the same thing.

In my country, the third line is sung as "Hasha! Busha!" which is supposed to imitate sounds of coughing/sneezing. Way more on the nose if we are referencing the plague.

I've learnt a version (possibly British?) which goes 'A tissue! A tissue!' and genuinely thought I misheard it until I looked it up. There's also 'a-tishoo, a-tishoo' which I suppose is meant to mimick sneezing, but yeah it's very on the nose about the plague.

"Three blind mice, three blind mice,
See how they run, see how they run,
They all ran after the farmer's wife,
Who cut off their tails with a carving knife,
Did you ever see such a thing in your life,
As three blind mice?"

Behind the chirpy melody of "The Three Blind Mice" it's thought to actually be about Queen Mary I or "Bloody Mary" and her persecution of three Protestant bishops.

The "Three Blind Mice" are the three bishops, and the "farmer's wife" Is Queen Mary I.

In 1556, Queen Mary I had the bishops burned at the stake for their beliefs and rejection of the Catholic faith.

The rhyme was first officially published in 1609 with a more explicit and violent reference to the bishop's persecution, eventually adapted to the rhyme we know today in the 19th century.