When Stephen Sondheim wondered what happened after the “happy endings” in fairy tales, he created “Into the Woods,” an emotional musical that gave insight into the darker side of the human condition.

What is the tuffet upon which Little Miss Muffet sat when the first copies of the nursery rhyme appeared in 1553 in England? A chair, a stool, a plant, a stone or maybe a small animal? And what are ...

But there also is another tuffet - a rounded clump of grass that might make a comfortable seat for Miss Muffet. Children’s books often have drawings of Miss Muffet on a stool, not a tuffet. And even ...