Ring a ring of roses

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Ring a ring of roses
A pocketful of posies
A tissue, a tissue
We all fall down.

The cows in the meadows
Eating all the grass
A tissue, a tissue
We all jump up.

The fish in the water
Wiggling up their tail
A tissue, a tissue
We all jump up.

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This rhyme is believed to date back from the time of the Great Plague. At least for the first verse. The ring of roses and pocket full of posies were to cover the smell of the Black Death. The tissue was to put over your mouth and nose which was not very efficient since “We all fall down” : we all died.
The next two verses clearly are more modern additions and some recent studies tend to prove that the whole song was in fact written a good century after the Black Death had disappeared from Britain.

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Gilles.Deletang@ExcuseMyEnglish.fr