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Mother Goose


The tradition of Mother Goose began as a 1729 English translation
of the name of Charles Perrault's tale-teller in Contes de Ma Mere
Loye (1697).

This name has in turn been traced to Queen Goosefoot,
Charlemagne’s mother, who was a patron of children.

A collection of songs was published by John Newbery in London in
1765, called Mother Goose's Melody about 1765.

Newbery's book was widely pirated and numerous editions were
reprinted in England, and in America at Boston and New York,
with additional rhymes. The designation "Mother Goose Rhymes"
took hold.

The subject matter of the Mother Goose rhymes has been linked by some scholars to actual events in English political history.

The nursery rhymes then spread to North America, as Iona and
Peter Opie's Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (1951: 37-42) shows.


Others claim an American origin in Mother Goose’s Melodies,
published 1719 in Boston by Thomas Fleet, whose mother-in-law was said to
be Elizabeth Vergoose



Who really is/was Mother Goose?

Many she's and he's—different writers—in different times.

The fact is that "Mother Goose" rhymes are from many sources,
passed down in folklore fashion (some even written by famous
authors)and perpetuated by publishers, frequently without author
attribution.



The Mother Goose Society was founded in 1987 to encourage a love
for the warm tradition of Mother Goose rhymes and Mother Goose's
comforting embrace and to promote the annual celebration of
Mother Goose Day

Mother Goose Society:
http://www.librarysupport.net/mothergoosesociety/



Some of the More Popular Mother Goose Rhymes


As I was going to St. Ives
As round as an apple

Baa, baa, black sheep
Blow, wind, blow!
Bow, wow, wow
Bye, baby bunting

Cat came fiddling out of a barn
Cobbler, cobbler, mend my shoe
Cock-a-doodle-doo!
Come, butter, come
Cushy cow bonny, let down thy milk.

Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John
Ding, dong, bell,/Pussy's in the well

Farmer went riding/Upon his gray mare
Girls and boys, come out to play

God bless the master of this house

Hey Diddle Diddle
Hickory, dickory, dock
Higgledy, piggledy
Humpty-Dumpty
Hush-a-bye, baby

I had a little nut-tree
I had a little pony
I have a little sister
I saw a ship a-sailing,
If all the seas were one sea
In marble walls as white as milk
Intery, mintery, cutery-corn

Jack and Jill
Jack be nimble, Jack be quick

Little Betty Blue
Little Bo-peep
Little Boy Blue
Little Jack Horner
Little King Boggen
Little Miss Muffet
Little Nancy Etticoat
Little Red Riding Hood
Little Robin Redbreast

Mistress Mary
Monday's child is fair of face
North wind doth blow

Old King Cole
Old Mother Hubbard
Once I saw a little bird
One, two, Buckle my shoe

Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake
Pease-porridge hot
Peter Piper
Pussy-cat, pussy-cat, where have you been?

Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross
Robert Rowley rolled a round roll 'round
Rock-a-bye, baby

Simple Simon met a pieman
Sing a song of sixpence
Rose is red, The violet's blue

There was a crooked man
There was a man in our town
There was an old man
There was an old woman
There was an old woman tossed up in a basket
There was an old woman who lived in a shoe
There were three jovial huntsmen
Thirty days hath September
This is the house that Jack built
This little pig went to market
Three blind mice!
Three children sliding on the ice
To market, to market
Twenty white horses

Up little baby
Wee Willie Winkie
Willy boy, Willy boy



Mother Goose -- Collections

Briggs, Raymond. Mother Goose Treasury. 1966
Brooke, Leslie. Ring 'o Roses. 1923
deAngeli, Marguerite. Book of Nursery and Mother Goose Rhymes.
1954
de Paola, Tomie. Tomie dePaola's Mother Goose. 1985
de Paoli, Tomie. Hey Diddle Diddle [shorter version of above]
Lobel, Arnold. Random House Book of Mother Goose. 1986
Marshall, James. James Marshall's Mother Goose. 1979
Opie, Iona. My Very First Mother Goose. Il. Rosemary Wells. 1996
Opie, Iona. Here Comes Mother Goose. Il. Rosemary Wells. 1999
Opie, Iona and Peter. Tail Feathers from Mother Goose. 1988.
Provensen, Alice and Martin. The Mother Goose Book. 1976
Rojankovsky, Feodor. Tall Book of Mother Goose. 1942.
Watson, Wendy. Wendy Watson's Mother Goose. 1989
Wright, Blanche. Real Mother Goose. 1916



Old Mother Goose

Old Mother Goose,
When she wanted to wander,
Would ride through the air,
On a very fine gander.


Mother Goose had a house,
It stood in the wood,
Where an owl at the door,
As sentinel stood.


She had a son, Jack,
A plain looking lad,
'Twas not very good,
Nor yet very bad.


She sent him to market.
A live goose he bought,
"See, Mother?" he said,
"I have not been for naught."

Jack's goose and her Gander,
Soon grew very fond.
They'd both eat together,
Or swim in the pond.


Then, one fine morning,
As I have been told,
Jack's goose had laid him
An egg of pure gold.


He ran to his mother,
The news for to tell.
She called him a good boy,
And said it was well.

Jack sold his egg,
To a merchant untrue,
Who cheated him out,
Of half of his due.

Then Jack went courting,
A lady so gay,
As fair as the lily,
As sweet as the May.

The merchant and squire,
Soon came at his back,
And began to belabour,
The sides of poor Jack.


Then old Mother Goose,
That instant came in,
And turned her son Jack,
Into famed Harlequin.

She then with her wand,
Touched the lady so fine,
And turned her at once,
Into sweet Columbine.

The gold egg in the sea,
Was thrown away then,
When an odd fish brought her,
The egg back again.

The merchant then vowed,
The goose he would kill,
Resolving at once,
His pockets to fill.

Jack's mother came in,
And caught the goose soon,
And mounting its back,
Flew up to the moon.

See Also:

List of Famous Birds in Myth, Books, Comics, Film, etc.


Index of All Bird Care & Birdie Fun Stuff

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