This is what I do, at 1 in the morning.

I always found the nursery rhyme of "Jack and Jill" to be a bit disturbing. People generally assume that both of them are kids, and that both of them are siblings. I know this because of all the illustrations I have seen as a young kid. However, the rhyme never actually spells out their identity! Their identity, to this date, remains as one of the elusive mysteries of my childhood.

The popular theory is that they are siblings. Both their names begin with 'J'. This naming schemes is prevalent in many siblings, including my own. If they are siblings, their parents have presumably ordered them to fetch water. At a time when there were no such thing as maids, menial chores such as these often fell upon the children's shoulders.

But why did Jack fall? And more importantly, why did Jill come tumbling after?

If we expand upon the 'sibling theory', then I don't think it'll be too far-fetched to assume that they are Siamese twins. They went to fetch 'a pail of water'. They didn't fetch several pails of water, just one. Jack alone would have been more than enough to carry the pail of water. He's a man for goodness sake. So let's assume that Jack can carry it by himself. Why would Jill want to follow? She may not want to, but she has to, due to the fact that they are attached to one another! Jack and Jill might be the first ever fictional Siamese twins!

Another possibility is that they are lovers. Lovers want to do everything together. I have been in love, and yes, I have been at the point whereby I accompany my other half to do even the most mundane of tasks. So the lovebirds, Jack and Jill, go on a romantic walk up a hill. For some reason, Jack trips over something and falls. He hits his head hard against something and it's bleeding profusely. Jill, in a state of shock, chooses to take her own life, rather than live without the man for whom her loins burn for. Jack and Jill is perhaps, a more tragic love story than Romeo and Juliet.

I can only construct theories, but I guess nothing solid will ever come about, due to the lack of knowledge we have, outside of those 6 lines of rhymes. Perhaps they are slaves who commit suicide due to the horrible treatment of them by their masters. Perhaps Jack is a king, as implied by his crown, and Jill is an assassin sent to kill him.

This is what I do, at 1 in the morning.