LONDON BRIDGE IS FALLING DOWN

Most Urgent
18th March, 1952
British High Command, London

To,
Officer Wren,
Special Force,
London

Officer,

You are urgently required to report to Commander Smith at Ramasha Island regarding the strong revolutionary movement. The movement mastermind had been captured some time back and our intelligence had told us that without him the movement would be paralyzed. However, that does not seem to be the case. In fact, the movement is stronger than ever. Lord Jack Burlington has been assassinated. Please move immediately.
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As I stared at the telegram in my hand having re-read it for the third time, I heard an announcement saying that we were about to land. I could see a small island seemingly broken into two parts surrounded by water on all sides.

Fifteen minutes later, as I stepped out of the jet on Ramasha Island twenty four hours after I had received the telegram, I saw a man in a brown overcoat waving at me in the distance. As I went closer, I could see that it was Commander Smith himself.

“Good to see you again detective Wren…We are in deep trouble. The Governor General Lord Jack Burlington was assassinated last week by the revolutionary movement. We just cannot understand it. We had captured Petros Guodupalla who is now imprisoned along with his five year old daughter Pauline since the last one month. We were confident that without him the movement would be severely impaired. But, the movement seems to be even more charged than ever. We have a feeling that he is still giving instructions to the movement, but we do not know how. The British Monarch is visiting the island tomorrow. We need to get this wrapped up before he arrives.”

“Does Petros have any connection with the outside world while he is in prison; any visitors? I asked.

“No, except his daughter’s governess, Mary Weber, who has brought her up since birth. She visits them once a week for an hour. I make sure that I am present in that meeting,” said the Commander.

“What happens during that time?” I asked?

“There is general talk and singing of nursery rhymes and a bit of games with the child and then the governess goes away.”

As I retired to my room, deep in thought, I felt tired. As I finished the shower, I looked into the mirror. The face that greeted me was fair and squarish, with deep blue eyes. There was a poignant look in them indicating the huge experience of solved and unsolved cases. The hair was black and curly. The mouth was large with thick lips almost sensuously boasting of a series of relationships. The frame was lanky and the slim body epitomized a high degree of fitness.

I felt a bit worried as I thought about the movement. How was Petros communicating to the movement?

I called up the Commander, “Could you give me the dossier on Petros – his background, activities, etc.”

As I browsed through the file, something unusual caught my eye. Petros was a doctorate and had taught political science at a leading University and even had a couple of publications to his credit. I was astonished that an academician could give up his career and join the movement. As I read further, I discovered that he had lost his wife tragically in an accident just a few months after his daughter was born. He was an avid reader and even a gymnast.

I called Commander Smith again.

“What incidents happened in spite of Petros being in jail,” I asked.
“There is a trail in the island surrounded by trees where the army usually marches through every Sunday. It is a connector to the other part of the island. Last fortnight, as they were marching through, within a two hundred meter stretch, huge rocks fell on them from the canopy of trees causing a stampede injuring at least three hundred of them and killing another hundred. The synchronicity with which this happened was astounding.

In another instance, a week ago, a letter bomb killed Lord Jack Burlington while he tried to open the document which contained the details of the taxes imposed on the people. I wonder what will happen next.”

I was amazed by the simplicity of the methods used by the movement.

“Tell me more about the conversation that Petros has in the cell with the governess,” I asked.

“Well, as I said earlier, Petros and the governess who he refers to as ‘doktorandin’ basically spend time with Pauline playing with her and singing nursery rhymes.

Officer Wren, this is leading us nowhere. Please hurry up. The Monarch is coming in tomorrow to address the people. We need to get to the root of this by tomorrow. Twenty hours is all you have,” the commander said.

I was thinking furiously. Something had struck me. I immediately called my friend George in London. He was the best foreign languages translator in the whole of England.

“George, give me the English translation for doktorandin.”

“That’s simple. It means a doctorate student in german,” said George immediately.

“Thanks, George,” I said as I put the receiver down.

My mind was racing. On a hunch, I called up the librarian at the National Library in London.

“Hi, John, Wren here. Is there any publication by Mary Weber in your records,” I asked.

“Hold on, I’ll check and get back to you,” John replied

Twenty minutes later, John called up excitedly, “Wren, I got something. There is a small publication – ‘German guerrilla warfare techniques during world war 1’ by Weber Mary”

“Thanks a ton, John. Please fax me the manuscript,” I said.

As I browsed through the manuscript, my eyes fell upon the acknowledgement page. My hunch was right. There was a fond acknowledgement to Professor Guodupalla for having guided her in this project.

I suddenly came upon a chapter – ‘History and significance of nursery rhymes in communication during wartime’. I startled and almost fell from the chair. The chapter was detailed and very fascinating. It explained the historical meanings of nursery rhymes and how they were codes in communication.

Things suddenly became clear to me. “Oh Lord! So that’s how they are communicating.”

I almost ran to Commander Smith. He had just reached the army headquarters after having received the Monarch who had just arrived.

“Tell me Commander,” I asked hurriedly, “do you remember which nursery rhymes they sang during the governess’ visit?”

“Yes,” said the Commander. “I do recall somewhat. In fact they sing the same rhyme over and over again throughout the hour. The first time they sung -

‘Rock-a-bye-baby
On the treetop
When the wind blows,
The cradle will rock.
When the bough breaks,
The cradle will fall
And down will come baby
Cradle and all”

I grabbed the Commander’s shoulder.

“Don’t you see – the way they communicated. That was an instruction to ambush the army where there is a canopy of trees. They probably placed the rocks in some containers over the entire stretch which sat on the treetop like cradles. When the army passed that way, through some mechanism, they made the rocks fall causing a stampede. That is exactly what happened. It is a guerilla technique.

Quick, tell me the other rhymes,” I almost gasped.

The Commander’s face turned red as he realized how he had been fooled. He tried recalling the second rhyme –

‘Little Jack Horner
Sat in a corner…”

“Eating a Christmas Pie
He put in his thumb
And pulled out a plum
And said
"Oh, what a good boy am I!’

I finished the rhyme and jumped up. “Commander, ‘Jack’ here could refer to Lord Jack Burlington. Tell me, what was the content in the letter?”

“Well, every quarter, heavy taxes are levied on the people of the island. As per the rumor, Lord Jack Burlington used to receive the letter himself and then would go into his chamber and make changes in the figures before sending it to the Monarch,” explained the Commander.

I recalled the chapter in the manuscript and excitedly turned towards the Commander.

“Yes, it refers to him all right. The ‘plum’ refers to the tax on the land and the ‘pulling out’ refers to the letter bomb. The ‘corner’ refers to his chamber and ‘good boy’ to his impression on the Monarch.” It has a political and historical significance. Petros is really smart.

What was the next rhyme?”

“The last rhyme,” said the commander,“ which he said yesterday was -

“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All the ……”

“Oh Lord, I almost shouted. The main cannon! Historically, the biggest gun of the army was brought down by the enemy. The biggest gun here can only mean the Monarch. They are going to try and assassinate him, but when?

Where is he right now?”

“What? He is about to reach the ‘Divison Wall’ – the palace courtyard, where there is a wall, where the army stand on one side and the people of the island on the other. The Monarch stands in the middle to address the people. This is a tradition which signifies the division between the colonized people and the army. This happens every year. It’s a special day for the British army signifying their triumph.

Wait a minute! Oh I see! That’s where they will get him!!! We have to rush,” the Commander exclaimed as he made a quick call and then ran out towards his car. I followed quickly.

We reached the Division Wall in ten minutes. The people of the island had already gathered and were now getting impatient as time flew by for the Monarch’s address. The army had been warned and it had cordoned off the wall area and was physically searching the area and the people for signs of any weapons.

An hour passed. As we continued to wait, nothing happened. The Army Chief came back to us and said that they had found nothing. I was confused. Could I have understood wrongly?

I turned to the Commander, “Was there any other nursery rhyme that you did not recall or did anything else happen yesterday at the prison?”

After a brief thought, Commander Smith replied, “No, there wasn’t any other rhyme but something else did happen. It seems insignificant but Petros showed everyone present a magic trick. In fact, he called out to the guards and said he would make two fingers disappear. Then, after using his spit to mark the fingers, he put his hand behind his head and when he brought it back in front, it seemed that the two marked fingers were actually missing. Pauline and the Governess were clapping continuously.

I stood up and shouted hoarsely, “Why didn’t you tell me earlier? This magic trick indicated the final nursery rhyme. The Humpty Dumpty rhyme was a red herring to fool us. The two fingers indicate two little dickie birds. The rhyme goes like this –

Two little dickie birds,
Sitting on a wall;
One named Peter,
The other named Paul.
Fly away Peter!
Fly away Paul!

Peter refers to Petros and Paul refers to his daughter Pauline. Call the prison. Petros is planning to escape with his daughter. I hope we are not too late.”

The ropes which hung from the ceiling of the empty prison cell gaped at us in arrogance. There was a hatch window at the far top which was half-open. It seemed too high for anyone to climb. Petros had used the ropes smuggled in by the movement to climb up and literally fly away. I remembered now that he was also a gymnast. It was ironical. He had kept the easiest nursery rhyme for himself. The nursery rhyme which had been used as a magic trick for centuries had been used by Petros to make a fool out of me.

As I sunk down on the floor resigned and outwitted, I look up again at the hatch window. As I imagined the next instruction from the monarch relieving me of my services or maybe even my life - the words automatically formed in my mouth completing the nursery rhyme:

‘Come back Peter
Come back Paul!’

by Vikas and Me