The nursery rhyme Goosey Goosey Gander seems to have more in than meets the eye.
A goose, or someone talking to a goose, wanders round a house.
In my lady's chamber an old man is found, who the speaker seems to throw him down the stairs because he is an atheist (can't say his prayers).
In the full version what happens to the old man gets more confusing: And when he's at the bottom, Before he long has lain, Take him by his left leg, And throw him up again.
So how can an old man be thrown upstairs, and why was the lady going with an old man anyway (instead of a young suitor, as you might expect)? Well what it was an old father long-legs, or as it is known nowadays a daddy longlegs, in American it is known as a cranefly.
This would explain how it can be thrown by the leg, rather than the torso, and how it may be slightly possible to throw it back up.
It may also explain why it can say its prayers - it can't speak, after all.
The original contents of the lady's chamber was cup of sack and a race of ginger.
Sack is a Spanish white wine and a race is a single root of ginger.
Maybe they used the ginger to spice the wine.
No wonder it was changed to an old man...
But we are still no nearer to working out where the goose or gander comes in.
Is it a male gander or a female goose? Maybe some things will just remain nonsense.