While the true origins of the rhyme are unknown there are several theories . As is common with nursery rhyme exegesis , complicated metaphors are often said to exist within the lyrics of Jack and Jill . Most explanations post @-@ date the first publication of the rhyme and have no corroborating evidence . These include the suggestion by S. Baring @-@ Gould in the 19th century that the events was a version of the story told in the 13th @-@ century Prose Edda Gylfaginning written by Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson , who stated that in Norse mythology , Hjúki and Bil , brother and sister ( respectively ) , was taken up from the earth by the moon ( personified as the god Máni ) as they was fetching water from the well called Byrgir , bearing on their shoulders the cask called Saegr and the pole called Simul . Around 1835 John Bellenden Ker suggested that Jack and Jill was two priests , and this was enlarged by Katherine Elwes in 1930 to indicate that Jack represented Cardinal Wolsey ( c.1471 – 1530 ) ; and Jill was Bishop Tarbes , who negotiated the marriage of Mary Tudor to the French king in 1514 .