Kinky

There was a crooked man and he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile.
He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse.
And they all lived together in a little crooked house.

Would the house have had crooked chimneys too, like these?
As a child my nursery rhyme book depicted this literally but now I find that the ditty has, like most, a hidden, historical, meaning.

It is suggested that the origin of this poem lies in the 17th century English Stuart period of King Charles I. The crooked man is reputed to be the (illegitimate) Scottish General Sir Alexander Leslie (1582-1661) who signed a Covenant securing religious and political freedom for Scotland. The 'crooked stile' was the border between England and Scotland. 'They all lived together in a little crooked house' refers to the fact that the English and Scots had at last reached an agreement which quelled their animosity.

Nothing there about chimneys which are of course known as lums in Scotland. "Lang may your lum reek" is a traditional Scottish Hogmanay greeting but I strongly suspect that Hampstead is a smoke-free zone now.

I'm home again after three very busy days and I hope to catch up with journal comments tomorrow (or did I say that yesterday?)