Did You Know...
- The earliest written version of the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe appeared in 1794?
- In the earlier versions, the old lady whipped her children soundly and sent them to bed? Ouch!
- Some speculation, although no hard proof, that the identity of the old woman in the rhyme is Queen Caroline, the wife of King George II? She had eight children.
- In England, Mother Goose was a generic term to describe a country woman?
- No specific writer has been identified as the creator of the Mother Goose nursery rhymes?
- The first tale attributed to Mother Goose appeared as early as 1650?
- Some scholars believed that Mother Goose lived in Boston in the late 1600's and was the wife of Isaac Goose? This line of thought is generally discounted today.
- In 1695, Charles Perrault published a collection of Mother Goose fairy tales? These were the first collection of fairy tales attributed to Mother Goose.
- In 1791 John Newbery published a book of Mother Goose nursery rhymes? This became the prevailing Mother Goose association until recently.
Fun stuff. Now here's a little video from Sesame Street in which Kermit the Frog meets the old woman and a couple of other people in her neighborhood.
