儿歌·童话·法庭裁决

不久前家里添了件小工艺饰品－－Mother Goose。Mother Goose是英语世界中虚构的儿歌的作者。她的经典造型是一位老年村妇打扮，戴顶尖帽子及披肩。

Mother Goose （工艺品）

在英语世界中，Mother Goose创造的儿歌最有名的是Humpty Dumpty:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall,

All the king's horses and all the king's men,

Couldn't put Dumpty together again.

显然这首儿歌不是Mother Goose写的，作者至今不详。Humpty Dumpty在儿歌的表达图形是人状蛋。在“阿丽斯漫游奇境”这本书中，Humpty Dumpty同小主角阿丽斯的对话涉及语义的模糊性、可塑性及权威对语义的定义也成为了英国文学中的经典的段落：
　"I don't know what you mean by 'glory,' " Alice said.
    Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. "Of course you don't—till I tell you. I meant 'there's a nice knock-down argument for you!' "
    "But 'glory' doesn't mean 'a nice knock-down argument'," Alice objected.
    "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less."
    "The question is," said Alice, "whether you canmake words mean so many different things."
    "The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master—that's all."
    Alice was too much puzzled to say anything, so after a minute Humpty Dumpty began again. "They've a temper, some of them—particularly verbs, they're the proudest—adjectives you can do anything with, but not verbs—however, I can manage the whole lot! Impenetrability! That's what I say!"

据统计这段对话在美国法院２５０份裁决书（包括两份美国最高法院意见书）被引用。此外，在英语著名案例Liversidge v. Anderson (1942)中，持异见的法官也引用了这段童话以支持自己的观点：

“

In England, amidst the clash of arms, the laws are not silent. They may be changed, but they speak the same language in war as in peace. It has always been one of the pillars of freedom, one of the principles of liberty for which on recent authority we are now fighting, that the judges are no respecters of persons and stand between the subject and any attempted encroachments on his liberty by the executive, alert to see that any coercive action is justified in law.

”

“

I know of only one authority, which might justify the suggested method of construction. 'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less'. 'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you can make words mean so many different things.' 'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be the master, that's all.' After all this long discussion, the question is whether the words 'If a man has' can mean 'If a man thinks he has'. I have an opinion that they cannot and the case should be decided accordingly.”

一首小小的儿歌，会影响数百法官的思维，因此改变无数人的命运。启蒙教育、启蒙材料的重要性，由此可见一斑。而且，一个（或几个）起先创作Mother Goose的人，虽然默默无闻，却能改变世界。