*blinks*

[silversolitaire]

I don't get this. Can anyone explain this to me? I don't get it...

There was a young fellow named Hall
Who died in the spring in the fall
It would be a sad thing
Had he died in the spring
But he didn't, he died in the fall.

I mean, what does it mean? "Spring" as in origin of a river, or what? Is that the joke? Or are there some idioms I'm not aware of?

Help, anyone?

Comments

[ex-frown243.livejournal.com]

It's a riddle, you know. It's about something. You have to figure out what it is they're talking about; every line is a clue. Where did you get it from? That would be a big factor in what the answer is. For instance, there were a lot of these written in old England that were about people in power at the time... intended at political satire that wouldn't get them hung. Humpty Dumpty, and that sort of thing. And sometimes they're just about random inanimate objects. So, yeah. I'm trying to figure it out, but my brain doesn't seem to want to help. >_

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine sent me this, hoping I could help. So, I really can't tell anything about the origin! *heavy sigh* I thought maybe it was meant as a pun or so... *shrugs*

[lysimache.livejournal.com]

I assume that it *is* indeed a pun, referring to the homonyms of spring-the-season and spring-a-body-of-water and spring-a-leap-upwards, and fall-the-season vs fall-drop.

Who died in the spring in the fall = who died in the water in the autumn
Had he died in the spring = had he died in the jump (spring=leap)
But he didn't, he died in the fall = but he didn't, he died in the falling-down/landing

*shrugs* But I've never seen this poem before, so it could be a riddle, I suppose. But that's not the aesthetic level of it.