Lore Episode 290: Growing Pains
Host: Aaron Mahnke
Date: October 6, 2025

Episode Overview

In “Growing Pains,” Aaron Mahnke explores the haunting undercurrent of children’s folklore—nursery rhymes, games, and superstitions that have endured across generations. He dives into the origins and darker meanings behind familiar childhood songs and rituals, uncovering how these traditions often helped both children and adults grapple with fear, death, and uncertainty. Through a mix of historical anecdotes and folklore analysis, Mahnke demonstrates how what appears to be harmless play or nonsense often masks efforts to understand or ward off the real horrors of life.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Spirits of Childhood: The Abiku Legend

[01:16-04:00]

• Abiku are spirits in Nigerian folklore, believed to possess and doom children to early death, targeting mothers repeatedly.
  • “The word abiku... translates to none other than predestined to death.” ([01:33])
  • These legends likely arose to help families process genetic illnesses like sickle cell disease that caused repeated child deaths in families.
  • “While these stories may be about children, they really exist to help adults process something too terrible to name.” ([03:40])

2. The Grim Roots of Nursery Rhymes

[04:01-16:10]

Little Bo Peep

• First appeared in print in 1805; theorized origins include:
  • A reference to smugglers in East Hastings, Sussex, where “Bo Peep” referred to customs agents and the “sheep” were the smugglers ([07:52]).
  • A political allegory about Mary Queen of Scots and the loss of her supporters.
  • “At the end of the day... the true origin remains shrouded in shadow. Because sometimes we folklorists reach a dead end and simply don't know what to do.” ([09:04])

Hey Diddle Diddle

• Printed in 1765 but possibly dates earlier; theories abound but none substantiated.
  • Connections speculated with ball games, biblical references, historical figures, or even Egyptian deities.
  • Mahnke debunks these, stating, “There just isn't any evidence that a single one of those explanations is true.” ([11:36])

The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe

• Nursery rhyme with an odd premise—rooted in British folklore where shoes symbolized fertility ([13:15]).
  • “If a normal-sized shoe can encourage pregnancy, then what happens if you have a giant house-size shoe? Well, you might just end up with so many children that you don't know what to do.” ([14:13])

3. The Mythology of Playground Illness: Cooties

[16:11-20:30]

• "Cooties" originated as WWI soldier’s slang for lice, derived from the Malay word kutu. After the war, children in America turned it into a mock disease passed through playground games.
  • "Kids have been inoculating each other against this imaginary playground disease for over a century." ([16:56])
  • “It started catching on in the early 1950s. You know what else was rampant then? Polio.” ([19:37])
  • The rise in “cootie shots” and protective games may be rooted in children’s anxiety about real epidemics.

4. Darker Threads in Play: Jump Rope Rhymes

[20:31-27:25]

• Jump rope games and rhymes often masked dark commentary on contemporary events.
  • Example: “I had a little bird, its name was Enza, opened up the door and in-flu-enza” became popular during the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic ([21:42]).
  • During the Great Depression: “WPA, WPA, you’re let go, get your pay.”
  • WWII rhyme: “Charlie Chaplin went to France to show those French girls how to dance... and turn your back on the Nazi submarine.” ([22:49])
  • Mahnke observes, “A game. It's never just a game, is it? There's always something else hidden beneath the surface.” ([23:41])

5. Resurrection Games: Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board

[27:26-34:57]

• The levitation game associated with sleepovers has deep historical roots:
  • First documented in Samuel Pepys’ journal in 1665, during the Great Plague of London.
  • Pepys described children in France chanting over a “dead” friend and lifting them with their fingers ([30:20]).
  • The chant and mechanism mirror earlier mystery plays about resurrection.
  • “Even though the chant itself has changed, kids have been playing some version of Light as a Feather for a long, long time.” ([33:44])
  • The levitation effect is attributed to science: rhythmic, synchronized movements and distributed weight make the feat possible.

6. Death Personified: Ms. Mary Mack

[34:58-37:29]

• The popular clapping game may reference a coffin, as revealed by an old English riddle.
  • “What if those silver buttons weren't buttons at all, but a row of gleaming silver nails? ...Ms. Mary Mac is none other than a coffin.” ([36:47])
  • Many nursery rhymes are thinly veiled meditations on death.

7. Who Was Mother Goose?

[37:30-43:00]

• Myth: Mother Goose was Elizabeth Foster Goose, a real Boston matriarch. But there's no surviving copy of the supposed first book, and the story was fabricated by her printer son-in-law’s descendant.
  • The term "Mother Goose" appeared in France in the early 1600s, referencing folktales and not a specific woman ([41:19]).
  • “Mother Goose herself is simply another invented character, one that's fit for a nursery rhyme.” ([42:53])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “While these stories may be about children, they really exist to help adults process something too terrible to name.” – Aaron Mahnke ([03:40])
• “At the end of the day though, the true origin remains shrouded in shadow. Because sometimes we folklorists reach a dead end and simply don’t know what to do.” ([09:04])
• “Cooties doesn’t actually exist. But don’t tell a 10 year old that, because kids have been inoculating each other against this imaginary playground disease for over a century.” ([16:56])
• “A game. It's never just a game, is it? There's always something else hidden beneath the surface. A curiosity or a fear driving children to play, act their way to understanding. And all too often, the root is death itself.” ([23:41])
• “Even though the chant itself has changed, kids have been playing some version of Light as a Feather for a long, long time.” ([33:44])
• “Ms. Mary Mac is none other than a coffin.” ([36:47])
• “Mother Goose herself is simply another invented character, one that's fit for a nursery rhyme.” ([42:53])

Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• Abiku & global child-death folklore: [01:16-04:00]
• Origins of Little Bo Peep and Hey Diddle Diddle: [04:01-12:00]
• The symbolism of shoes and fertility in rhymes: [12:01-15:00]
• Cooties: From lice to playground myth: [16:11-20:30]
• Jump rope rhymes and real-world trauma: [20:31-27:25]
• Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board in history: [27:26-34:57]
• Ms. Mary Mack as a folk riddle about death: [34:58-37:29]
• Mother Goose origin-myth and debunking: [37:30-43:00]

Tone and Language

Mahnke’s narration is both wry and empathetic, embracing the dark humor and tragedy embedded in children’s folklore. He mixes academic insight with conversational storytelling, often injecting ironic asides (“Well, maybe the pun was intended, but you get the idea” [19:39]) and gentle skepticism. The episode balances melancholy with a sense of wonder at the creativity and resilience of children in the face of fear and mortality.

Summary Takeaway

“Growing Pains” reveals that the games and rhymes of childhood—often dismissed as nonsense—are powerful cultural tools, ingeniously tailored to help the young (and their parents) grapple with death, change, and frightening uncertainties. From abiku spirits in Africa to the invented authority of Mother Goose, Mahnke reminds us that, in folklore, the “truth is more frightening than fiction”—and often, much wiser too.