Who Was Humpty Dumpty?

Was it just a fantasy for children? If you ask people who or what it was, you'll likely get this answer: an egg.

Okay. An egg. What sort of story is that? Is it to teach children to be careful when they handle eggs?

Where in the story does it say he's an egg?

Though there are many variations of it, the original story implies nothing about an egg.

Someone in ages past illustrated the story, and came up with a humanoid egg to represent Humpty Dumpty. Maybe it was a misunderstanding. Maybe it was a joke. Or maybe it was simply that the artist needed something to do; perhaps it was an assignment and he had no better ideas. Whatever it was, it stuck.

It's been said, though, that Humpty Dumpty represents the Reformation of Christianity.

“Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.”

Religious laws and state laws were one and the same throughout Europe centuries ago, though every king and his advisors, and every priest or bishop, had their own interpretations of Scripture.

Humpty Dumpty fell. Usually, when something falls, it breaks. The pieces scatter. This is actually a good analogy of political or religious schisms. Because of religious and political differences (not to mention human greed and ego), Christianity split apart into various sects. This began with the famous protest that Martin Luther nailed to the door of the Vatican, which began the Protestant movement.

“And all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again.”

If one looks closely enough, one can see shades of King James' conflicts with the Papacy, which wound up with King James splitting away from the Papacy and forming the Church of England.

The various sects of Christianity were separate and distinct, with sometimes widely different views of doctrine and religious observance. And they remain so to this day. The barriers between them aren't as stringent as they once were, but I doubt that any king, advisor or bishop will ever unite them into one group again.

In many areas during those times, you couldn't speak out about politics or religion, at least not if you disagreed. Perhaps Humpty Dumpty was a more (or less, depending on how you look at it) artistic way of describing the Reformation. But it was just Humpty Dumpty, not an egg.

So. Is that the true story of Humpty Dumpty? That's one interpretation of it, at least. If nothing else, it makes more sense than an egg with arms and legs, doesn't it?