Does anyone know what "Three Blind Mice" in the English nursery rhyme actually means?

Question

What's the connotations of this rhyme?

Answer 1

Three Blind Mice is a children's nursery rhyme.

Three blind mice. Three blind mice.
See how they run. See how they run.
They all ran after the farmer's wife
Who cut off their tails with a carving knife.
Did you ever see such a thing in your life
As three blind mice?
Joseph Holbrooke (1878-1958) composed his Symphonic Variations, opus 37, based on Three Blind Mice. Also, Franz Joseph Haydn used its theme in the Finale (4th Mvt) of his Symphony 83 (La Poule) (1785-86); one of the 6 "Paris" Symphonies. Three blind mice was also used as a theme song for The Three Stooges and a Curtis Fuller arrangement of the rhyme is featured on the Art Blakey live album of the same name.

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Explanation
The wife in the rhyme may refer to Mary I, daughter of King Henry VIII of England, sometimes referred to as "Bloody Mary." She is called a "farmer's wife" because of the large estates owned by her and her husband, King Philip II of Spain. The mice in the rhyme may refer to Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, and Thomas Cranmer, three Anglican bishops convicted of plotting against the Queen. They were subsequently burned at the stake.

Answer 2

Three blind mice. Three blind mice. See how they run. See how they run. They all ran after the farmer's wife Who cut off their tails with a carving knife. Did you ever see such a thing in your life As three blind mice? Well, the nursery rhyme is horrible because the farmer's wife cut their tails off. A legend says this song was written because Queen Mary I of England executed 3 Protestant bishops.

Answer 3

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RE:
Does anyone know what "Three Blind Mice" in the English nursery rhyme actually means?
What's the connotations of this rhyme?

Answer 4

Three blind mice, three blind mice,
See how they run, see how they run,
They all ran after the farmer's wife,
Who cut off their tails with a carving knife,
Did you ever see such a thing in your life,
As three blind mice?

The origin of the words to the Three blind mice rhyme are based in English history. The 'farmer's wife' refers to the daughter of King Henry VIII, Queen Mary I. Mary was a staunch Catholic and her violent persecution of Protestants led to the nickname of 'Bloody Mary'. The reference to 'farmer's wife' in Three blind mice refers to the massive estates which she, and her husband King Philip of Spain, possessed. The 'three blind mice' were three noblemen who adhered to the Protestant faith who were convicted of plotting against the Queen - she did not have them dismembered and blinded as inferred in Three blind mice - but she did have them burnt at the stake!