The truth about Miss Muffet?
Little Miss Muffet
Sat on a tuffet
Eating her curds and whey.
Along came a spider,
And sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away.
Miss Patience Muffet's father, the Reverend Dr Thomas Muffet (1553-1604), believed passionately that spiders could cure many ailments. He wrote that having plenty of spiders in the house prevented gout, and that the dung and urine of house spiders cured running eyes!
He often tried these spider cures on his poor daughter Patience. Could this be why she was so frightened of spiders?
Related link
- First-school: activities
http://www.first-school.ws/activities/nrhymes/msmuffet.htm
