LITTLE JACK HORNER

original rhyme

  

Little Jack Horner, sat in the corner,
Eating a Christmas pie.
He put in his thumb, and pulled out a plum,
And said, "What a good boy am I!" 

During the 19th century a story started circulating that this rhyme was associated with a man named Thomas Horner who was a steward to the Abbot of Glastonbury, just before King Henry VIII destroyed the monasteries,(1536-1541). According to this legend, the Abbot sent  Thomas Horner to London with a dozen deeds to manors hidden in a Christmas pie.  The legend goes on to say that during the journey Jack Horner opened the pie and took out one deed, to the Manor of Mells located in Somerset.  This manor has lead mines, and in Latin, the word plumbum means lead.

This legend is denied by the family that owns this manor.