Week 1 Storytelling: Falling, Falling, Falling

“Jack and Jill went up the hill

To fetch a pail of water;

Jack fell down and broke his crown

And Jill came tumbling after.”

UGH! I have been haunted by this incessant rhyme since I was ten years old. Ever since my twin brother and I fell down that god-forsaken hill, everybody thinks it is sooo funny to tease us with that song. Constantly people are saying, “Ooh, be careful. We all know how clumsy Jill is,” like it's my nonexistent clumsiness that caused my brother to fall down that hill and crack his skull open! Well, here is the real story of what happened that day, and trust me… it was not my fault.

It was a beautiful Wednesday afternoon. Mother had sent Jack and me to go outside and play at the playground, which just happened to be at the bottom of a rather large hill with a wishing-well at the top of it. My brother and I were enjoying ourselves, just innocently playing, when all of a sudden who comes running up to me but Little Miss Muffet. With a look of sheer terror on her face, she swiftly grabbed me by my shoulders and began to shake my entire body uncontrollably. She then grabbed at her throat and, to the best of her abilities, struggled to softly say the word “water.”

Immediately I yelled to my brother, “Jack, run up to the top of that hill and fetch some water out of the well! Little Miss Muffet is choking!”

Jack’s eyes drastically became wide. He hastily turned towards the hill and began to sprint up to the top. I, unfortunately, was stuck with the overly frantic Little Miss Muffet, my left arm around her shoulders to steady and comfort her as we briskly walked up to that wretched pail of water. 

It took us few minutes to reach the top, but once there Little Miss Muffet seemed to be in less of a tizzy. Jack had just finished pulling up the pail filled with water when we arrived. He gently handed it to the now sweaty and trembling Little Miss Muffet, who quickly received the pail with her quivering fingers and began drinking down the water in gargantuan gulps. My brother and I stood there in front of her, watching, as she panted between her large sips. 

“Muffet, will you tell us what happened?” I asked her, as her breathing began to shallow.

“I…I…I can’t,” she uttered just before taking another large swallow of water.

“Well, try for us, would you? I bet you will feel much better once you do.” Jack nodded in agreement to my attempt to console her with my words.

Her shaking had ceased. With a deep sigh she set the, now virtually empty, pail on the stone edge of the wishing-well. She looked at Jack and me and said, “Alright, I’ll tell you. But let me start by saying that today has been the worst day of my life.”

Oh Muffet! She always did have a flair for the overly dramatic.

“Well, I had been having a horrible morning, so I decided to go get my favorite chocolate muffin from the bakery to hopefully cheer me up. I found a little bench in a grassy area to peacefully sit and enjoy my beloved muffin. I was on my second bite when suddenly a gigantic spider appeared next to me! As you know I have severe arachnophobia, that's the fear of spiders by the way, and so, with a mouth full of muffin, I just took off running. That’s when I ran into you, Jill. The worst part is, not only did the whole incident cause me to choke on the fluffy chocolate morsel, but I didn’t even get to finish my muffin!” A look of despair creeped over Little Miss Muffet’s face as she finished her story.

Jack and I just stood there looking at each other, neither of us knowing what to say to her. With her expression now a dramatic look of despair, Little Miss Muffet solemnly turned away from us to look out at the little town below. I followed behind her and gently placed my hand on her shoulder, while Jack placed his chin on my shoulder. It's his umm "special" little way of telling me that he's bored *eye roll*.

Out of nowhere Little Miss Muffet began screaming at the top of her lungs. Still shrieking, she pointed to the brick wall out in the distance. I squinted my eyes as I strained to see what the commotion was all about. Then my eyes grew wide… Humpty Dumpty had fallen off of his wall and had broken into a million pieces!!! As her shrill screaming continued to pierce the once quiet air around us, Little Miss Muffet forcefully pushed me backwards as she sprinted down the hill. 

Well, this is how the horrific incident occurred. When Little Miss Muffet shoved me, it caused me to lose my balance and fall backwards onto my brother, causing him to fall down the hill.

Still plopped on the grass where I had fallen, I turned around to laugh with my brother about our crazy encounter with our overly eccentric friend, when I saw that he was missing. I crawled on my tummy to the edge of the hill to look down below. That’s when I saw it… the blood oozing from my brother's skull while he lay on the ground motionless. I was so terrified and shocked that I accidentally fell down the hill as well. Fortunately I wasn’t hurt, but I don’t remember anything else from that day. 

Jack’s okay now, in case you were wondering. I can’t say the same for Humpty Dumpty though. But now do you understand why I hate that awful rhyme?! It reminds me of the day I almost lost my brother. 

Jack and Jill (Source)

Author's Note.  While my main focus was on the Jack and Jill nursery rhyme, I chose to intertwine several of the popular Nursery Rhymes to create one large, elaborate story. By combining several of the Nursery Rhymes together I was able to create and cause-and-effect chain of events that would emphasize the plausibility of the breaking of Jack's 'crown' to be more than just a random occurrence. Each nursery rhyme causes another nursery rhyme to occur, leading to the Jack and Jill situation. It is a massive cause and effect situation. If Little Miss Muffet had not been having a bad day, then she would not have gone to the bakery to get a muffin and been frightened by the spider, causing her to need to get water from Jack and Jill at the top of the hill, where she saw Humpty Dumpty die, causing her to push Jill who collided with Jack, thus causing Jack to break open his skull and almost die. 
In my storytelling I chose my main story to be focused on Jack and Jill. Writing it from Jill’s perspective gave the story another dimension to it and allowed me to incorporate other nursery rhymes while demonstrating that nursery rhyme characters have a personality all their own. I chose to keep Jack as a quiet type for two reasons. Firstly, because Jill is telling the story and she wants the main focus to be on her and how the rhyme hurts her. Jill is an attention snob in that way, so having Jack speak would take away from Jill’s spotlight. Secondly, as Jack is a ten-year-old boy, I felt as though he would potentially be shy around other girls, and his close relationship with his sister might causing him to only be openly vocal with her or people who he believes to have a close relationship with. Besides, at this point Jack is used to dealing with his sister's constant need to be the center of attention that he just sits back and enjoys the entertainment unfold before him. 

Bibliography.  

Jack and Jill - The Nursery Rhyme Book edited by Andrew Lang and illustrated by L. Leslie Brooke (1897)

Little Miss Muffet - The Nursery Rhyme Book edited by Andrew Lang and illustrated by L. Leslie Brooke (1897)

Humpty Dumpty - The Nursery Rhyme Book edited by Andrew Lang and illustrated by L. Leslie Brooke (1897)