Fairy tales delve deeply into the subconscious fears and desires of humankind. Nursery rhymes do the same for a particular culture. As such they are rich in indicators of a culture's most precious values. But can they also be regarded as indoctrinators?

The nursery rhyme is certainly an ideal vehicle for cultural indoctrination. They are lessons in the cradle, soaked up by infants who do not even understand the words, and later sung without thinking (see a Dutch example). They come under the guise of clean fun and amusement: a song for going to sleep, a song for play, a song for the road.

But in most cases the lyrics go at least a century back, and they often promote outdated values. These may be harmless, outmoded maxims. Or they may be wholly unsuitable, even detrimental to a society.

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