The four Knaves and the four Flour Boys

In "The fourth Knave," I took the nursery rhyme "Rub-a-dub-dub," in which the men in the tub are "knaves all three," noted that Knave is another name for a Jack in a deck of cards, and proposed that the fourth Knave, the one who is not in the tub, is the "dry Jack" referred to in the "Jack dry stolen" message. Due to the "stolen" reference, I identified the dry Jack as the Knave of Hearts who, in another nursery rhyme, "stole those tarts." I did not at that time propose playing-card identities for the other three Knaves -- the Butcher, the Baker, and the Candlestick Maker -- as no obvious mappings suggested themselves.

"Tin, elven saints, and Flour Boys" brought in another foursome: Cheek Holder, Flour Boy, Fudge Boy, and Star Boy. With one exception, these all bear the title Boy, which is the original meaning of Knave (cf. German Knabe). At the end of that post, I suggested that Cheek Holder, who holds his cheek with one hand and a heart with the other, might correspond to the Knave of Hearts, but again no obvious mappings came to mind for the other three.

Things really got cooking in the comments on "Remembering the 2000 Official Chubby Checker Website," a completely random post not intended to have anything to do with the Knaves or the Flour Boys. Bill, though, decided Chubby Checker reminded him of Santa Claus (that chubby checker-twice of lists), whom he had previously identified with "Thingol-John." He found confirmation of this in the fact that Checker's real name is Ernest Evans. Evan is a form of the name John, and Ernest suggests Ernie, the leader of the Keebler Elves. Then I proposed Keebler-Elf identities for three figures in Bill's story, and Bill expanded it into this mapping:

Cheekholder = Ernie = John-Thingol

Flour Boy = Elwood = Pharazon (Flower Boy)

Fudge Boy = Buckets = Thomas Marsh/ Peter

Star Boy = Fast Eddie = Swift Messenger/ Faramir

I'm not totally on board with those mappings, as I still tend to assume that Pharazon and Marsh/Peter are the same Being, but it's a good start, and it's given me enough to finally plug in all four Knaves, both in the nursery rhyme and the deck of cards. Here are my proposed mappings:

Cheek Holder = Ernie = Butcher = Jack of Spades = Page of Swords

Flour Boy = Elwood = Baker = Jack of Clubs = Page of Wands

Fudge Boy = Buckets = Dry Jack = Jack of Hearts = Page of Cups

Star Boy = Fast Eddie = Candlestick Maker = Jack of Diamonds = Page of Pentacles

See how that all falls into place?

Beef cheeks are a cut of meat, so naturally the Butcher is the one who would be holding a cheek. A sword is similar to a butcher's knife. Thingol has been the owner of more than one important sword. (Pop-in-the-Jack with his sword may also be relevant.)

Flour Boy is the Baker for obvious reasons. Bill's addition of the name El-wood provides the needed link to the suit of Clubs/Wands.

Fudge Boy is Buckets, and the Dry Jack is the Jack of Hearts. A bucket is a sort of cup, providing a link to the Italian suit. Also, the fudge is at the center, or "heart," of an E. L. Fudge cookie.

Star Boy is a natural link to the suit of Pentacles, since a pentacle is a five-pointed star. Candlesticks and stars are conceptually similar, being sources of light, and the two images are linked in Rev. 1:20. The title Fast Eddie is what cements the Candlestick Maker identification, though: "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jump over the candlestick."

One more angle. Here's one of my comments from the Chubby Checker post:

I should mention that what made me think of Chubby Checker and his old website was that Billy Joel song sung by the Background Brethren. (This is Joel's version; I can't remember whether the Brethren's adaptation included Chubby.)

Buddy Holly, Ben Hur, space monkey, mafia

Hula hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go

U2, Syngman Rhee, Payola and Kennedy

Chubby Checker, Psycho, Belgians in the Congo

Lots of potential for a cicada-read there. I spontaneously read Buddy Holly as lowercase "buddy holly" -- a budding holly plant. Space monkeys are a familiar theme. "Hula hoop" sounds like something out of Joseph Smith's GAEL (cf. Ho-e-oop).

I quoted four lines of "We Didn't Start the Fire" -- the lines beginning with Buddy Holly, Hula hoops, U2, and Chubby Checker. I identified Buddy Holly with the suit of Wands, as explained in "Buddy Holly, deer, and Happy Days." Bill had already linked Chubby Checker to Ernie and thus, in my mapping, to the suit of Spades/Swords. I noted in my comment that Hula hoop reminded me of Ho-e-oop from Joseph Smith's Grammar and Alphabet of the Egyptian Language. In the same thread, I identified Fast Eddie with the "swift messenger" from that same document, not realizing that there was a link. One of the names given to the Swift Messenger is Jah-ho-e-oop. So that's Star Boy.

That leaves U2 for Fudge Boy. I can't see any logic behind that connection at present, but perhaps something will emerge. (Billy Joel's reference is to the U-2 incident of 1960, but for sync purposes the Irish rock band is also relevant.)

Bill has suggested that the Four Horsemen -- both the biblical originals and the characters in the 2013 film Now You See Me -- might also be in the mix, but I don't have anything on that yet.

Note added: U2 may simply be a double-U, or W, a letter which is prominently displayed on the Rider-Waite Ace of Cups, and thus a link to that suit.