People are shocked to find out Humpty Dumpty isn't actually an egg

Who doesn’t know the nursery rhyme about Humpty Dumpty? And each time we sing along to it, we imagine a jolly egg balancing on the wall. But should we really?

A London-based writer Holly Bourne questioned whether this is a fact or simply an assumption.

Who decided Humpty Dumpty was an egg?

As the famous song goes:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall

All the king's horses and all the king's men

Couldn't put Humpty together again.

But nowhere in the lyrics is it specified that the character was a food item. According to Bourne, assuming that he was an egg ‘is quite a random leap for someone to make’.

The author who writes for adults and teenagers, wrote on Twitter:

Also, imagine having NO ARMY because they're busy fixing a broken egg.

The king sent literally EVERYONE out to save the giant egg who isn't actually an egg, leaving the realm wide open for attack.

Her post attracted 455,000 views, with some thanking her for drawing attention to the nonsensical nursery rhyme.

Who or what Humpty Dumpty really was?

Many people highlighted what is believed to be the real Humpty Dumpty - stating it was in fact a cannon used in the English Civil War.

One social media user wrote:

Humpty Dumpty was a cannon that fell off a wall.

Another one added:

It was a cannon in Chichester.

The nursery rhyme was first recorded in England in the late 18th century. It is believed to reference a large cannon used during the English Civil War fought between 1642 and 1649.

Towards the end of the war, a big cannon was used in Chichester to bombard the roundheads or parliamentary forces in a bid to stop Charles I from ruling the country without consent.

The parliamentary forces then attacked the cannon with a fire of their own, making it tumble to the ground.

The lyrics then refer to the king's men - the royalist supporters in support of King Charles I - being unable to fix the canon.

Who is to blame for turning a canon into an egg?

It is believed that 19th century author Lewis Caroll, famous for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, was the first to depict Humpty Dumpty as an egg in his 1871 book Through the Looking-Glass. And since then, it became the prevailing view.

Bourne wrote that the egg was ''non-cannonical' madness we've blindly accepted’, and many of her followers agreed it made no sense.

Some others highlighted that there were other misleading elements in literature, such as there being no balcony in Romeo and Juliet.

One user wrote:

Egg shells are notoriously fragile and known to crack.

While another added:

It always made sense to me. The egg was used as a metaphor for something that cannot be fixed.

Sourced used:

- Mail Online: 'Author sparks Twitter storm claiming Humpty Dumpy was NOT an egg - but do you know what he really was?'