Q is for Queen

        (My theme for this year’s A to Z Blog Challenge is traditional English language nursery rhymes, and their block printed illustrations.)

The Queen of Hearts

She made some tarts,

All on a summer’s day.

The Knave of Hearts

He stole those tarts,

And took them clean away.

The King of Hearts

Called for the tarts,

And beat the knave full sore.

The Knave of Hearts

Brought back the tarts,

And vowed he’d steal no more.

        Scandal at court!

        Unlike some nursery rhymes, this one has a full plot and plenty of scope for a variety of different illustrations of various points in the story.  Some illustrators have fun showing the Queen, dressed all in her royal finery complete with crown, working in the kitchen - an idea that probably struck people as particularly funny in the days of more extreme social distinctions.  Today’s second illustration, by Walter Crane, is of that type.

        Some illustrators focus on the Knave’s theft, including the first illustration above, and the third.  I particularly like how the third one models the knave so closely on the playing card.  That’s another area in which illustrators have a decision to make: whether to imagine these characters as playing cards or not.  Lewis Carroll and his illustrator Tenniel most famously did, but others go with other designs.  It is true that this rhyme actually was originally inspired by cards, as the poem was first published with a verse for each of the other suits, as well, although those verses never became popular and haven’t stuck around.

        And finally, we have an illustrator who has chosen to depict the King threatening to beat the Knave (with a sword!  Yikes!), and the Knave returning the tarts.  The Queen looks on from the background with an expression that says “Serves him right!”

        Do you ever bake pastry?  What’s your favorite kind to make?  Or to eat?

        A final note for impressionable children: Don’t steal tarts!

[Pictures: Detail from Nursery Rhymes, wood engraving by Gwenda Morgan, 1970 (Image from Kevis House);

Color wood block print by Walter Crane from Baby’s Own Alphabet, printed by Edmund Evans, c 1874 (Image from Internet Archive);

Wood block print from Mother Goose’s Nursery Rhymes, published by Allen Brothers, 1869 (Image from International Children’s Digital Library);
Wood block print from Songs for the Nursery, published by Darton & Co, 1851 (Image from Opie, The Oxford Nursery Rhyme Book).]