Nursery Rhyme Question

May 10, 2004 12:57 PM

Jack and Jill went up a hill to fetch a pail of water. Up? Can that be right? Why would you put a well on top of a hill? Woudn't the water table be closer to the bottom of a hill? Just wondering...
posted by grateful to Grab Bag (5 answers total)

Don't watersheds start on higher ground and flow towards sea-level? Doesn't fresh, glacial meltwater flow down from on high? Wouldn't you prefer to get your supply closer to the source, where you can get water in which relatively few people have done their laundry?
posted by stonerose at 1:05 PM on May 10, 2004

Actually water tables rise under hills and sink under valleys. They tend to follow surface topography. I have a well, it's on a hill. If it wasn't, I'd need a pump to get water in to my house. As it is, it's just pressure from the water coming downhill into my house.
posted by jessamyn at 1:16 PM on May 10, 2004

Well? Who said anything about a well? There is a pail of water and it is located up an incline from Jack and Jill's current position. Not to metion the bit about Charles I attempting to increase tax revenue by reducing the liquid measure of a jack.
posted by dirtylittlemonkey at 1:18 PM on May 10, 2004

Note how none of the stories provide a satisfactory interpretation of the proper function, symbolism, and mystery of the "pail."
posted by jasper411 at 1:54 PM on May 10, 2004

I've been told that the pressure a hill puts on the water beneath them can actually push the right up to the top.
posted by FidelDonson at 2:28 AM on May 11, 2004