Book discusses symbols, codes of children’s verses

Stories first learned and loved in childhood can offer some surprises when they are revisited later in life. What parent reading the Brothers Grimm’s fairy tales to her child has not been startled by the dark and seductive undertones of stories that once seemed so innocent?

Chris Roberts, a librarian and proprietor of F and M Walking Tours in London, offers a delightful glimpse of the many symbols and bits of code hidden within seemingly innocuous nursery rhymes in his new book, “Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind the Rhyme” (Gotham Books, 224 pages, $20).

“Here We Go ‘Round the Mulberry Bush,” we discover, offers allusions to pagan rituals, prison terms and (later) gay lifestyle.

And some readers may be shocked to learn that “Jack and Jill” is actually about “a young couple slipping off for a bit of ‘slap and tickle’ and the regrets that come later.” The regrets, as Roberts points out, are mainly Jill’s, since she is punished in later verses while Jack runs off to brag to his friends.

“Yankee Doodle” was originally popularized by the British as a way of joking about American ineptitude, but after the battle of Bunker Hill, it was adopted as an American marching song – sort of an “in your face” comeback.

And a chapter on “Rock-A-Bye Baby” points out that early versions serve as “a good reminder that cruelty to children is hardly a new thing.”

Roberts also debunks some popular notions about nursery rhymes (“Ring Around the Rosie” is not about the Black Plague), delves into animal symbolism and even has a bit of fun with words while dissecting “This Old Man.”