The True Story of Little Miss Muffet

 

I took this photo of a spider in front of my house and titled it "The Great Wallenda" …but the interesting part was what happened after I took the photo. While the spider was signing the model release form we struck up a conversation during which he told me a story that has been passed down in his family for generations, and now with his permission I can share that story with you here:

"The Great Wallenda"

The True Story of Little Miss Muffet

Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet

Eating her curds and whey.

Along came Wallenda,

With a different agenda

And they still talk about it today

However due to legal wrangling between the Wallenda’s and Tuffet’s, in today’s version Wallenda is simply referred to as “a spider.” Wallenda originally wanted top billing in the story, which was immediately rejected by the Tuffet’s team of lawyers, and as talks broke down he was eventually denied all royalties from further publications of the event, causing him to demand that his name and likeness be removed from the story entirely. His name was removed, but despite an intense court battle his likeness remained because the judge agreed with the Tuffet’s counsel that “along came a cricket who wanted to lick it” changed the story entirely. Pleas by the Wallenda’s lawyer to use a beetle or cockroach instead of a spider also failed. And that’s why in today’s version it was “a spider who sat down beside her, and frightened Miss Muffet away.”

Now you know the true story.