How Can This Be?

Like any normal kid, I tended to be very literal minded. Oh, um, on second thought, if any of you have been reading my stories of my childhood on my website www.quarterhorse3.us, you will know that my kid life was anything but normal. Be that as it may, being literal minded had some very curious and frightening repercussions indeed. Take for example nursery rhymes and kid songs. When I heard "Rock A bye Baby", I wondered why anyone would put a baby in a cradle on top of a tree. Sounds rather dangerous to me since the song warned that if the wind blew; the cradle would come crashing down baby and all. Then there was Jack Sprat who could eat no fat. Now that I understand, but what about his wife eating no "lean"? What exactly is "lean"? Then in another kid's song, it stated that London Bridge is falling down and was apparently caused by someone's "Fair Lady". Now, what about Jack and Jill going up a hill to a well to get a pail of water. When Jack fell down, he broke his "crown". Did that mean he was a king? Moreover, if so, why didn't he have one of his servants get the water, thus preventing his crown being broken? At least he should have sent Jill since in those days women always obeyed the men. It's no wonder I turned out to be a neurotic adult!