Little Jack Horner
Though a nursery rhyme rather than a fairy tale, Little Jack Horner is another classic example of a seemingly-innocent tale with deeper – and possibly even darker – origins. Indeed, while seemingly nonsense, this is actually the tale of political intrigue, bribery and even treason, though even expert scholars disagree over the exact details of the story.
The first known reference to Little Jack Horner dates way back to 1725. Already by this point, the rhyme included him eating a Christmas pie, sticking his thumb inside it and pulling out a plum. Before long, numerous theories had been put forward, each claiming to be the truth behind the silliness. According to most accounts, the nursery rhyme was actually about a real-life man called Thomas Horner who got stuck into a pie he was supposed to be delivering to King Henry VIII of England.
As most people know, Henry VIII tried to shut down all the country’s monasteries. In an effort to save Glastonbury Abbey, the abbot there tried to bribe the king: he hid the deeds to 12 manor houses in a pie and had his steward – none other than Horner himself – deliver it to the royal court. Horner had a look inside the pie and managed to take the deeds to one house for himself. Interestingly, his descendants still own Mells Manor, though they have always denied that their distant relative acquired it by sticking his fingers in a pie destined for the king!