Between the Lines: Mother Goose

I hope all you mothers out there had a happy Mother’s Day! We had a great day here at the Deliverers Publishing Headquarters. Since the day before yesterday was Mother’s Day, I thought it would be fun to chat a little with Mother Goose. I’m sure she has some interesting anecdotes about writing fairy tales and nursery rhymes. Let’s see what she had to say.

Greg:  It’s great having you here. Thanks for taking some time to talk with us!

Mother Goose:  It’s my pleasure entirely, I can assure you! I just love to sit and chat. Give me a nice cup of tea and a comfy chair and I’m yours for the evening!

Greg:  Fantastic. I guess the first thing I’d like to ask you is where did you get the ideas for all your wonderful stories?

Mother Goose: Ideas? Whatever do you mean?

Greg:  You know—ideas for all those wonderful tales and rhymes you wrote. Over the years it’s been said that you wrote fairy tales including Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. You’ve also been credited with writing a whole bunch of nursery rhymes including Old King Cole, the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe and Little Boy Blue.

Mother Goose:  Yes, yes, I am familiar with them of course, but I did not ‘make them up’, they are based on actual events that I witnessed and people that I know.

Greg:  You’re kidding, right?

Mother Goose:  I most certainly am not! What an impertinent thing to say. What cheek!

Greg:  But surely that can’t be true. I mean, an old woman who lives in a shoe, an

egg that falls off a wall. You’re pulling my leg!

Mother Goose:  Why did you have me here to talk if you insist on calling my credibility into question, young man? Poor old Humpty was not an egg. It was no joke when he fell off that wall I can tell you. Try it once yourself and see. The poor dear! He was never quite right after that whole incident. The king’s horses and king’s men never did get him good as new again. What he needed was a neurosurgeon, not a lot of knights and livestock! I suppose that’s what comes from not having proper medical insurance. I warned him numerous times, but he simply refused to listen!

Greg:  You’re serious, aren’t you? Wow, I never thought you stories were true. Tell me some more about the people you wrote about.

Mother Goose:  Well, let me see. Oh well, the old lady who lived in a shoe, Doris is her name. She is quite an interesting person. Do you know that she had the opportunity to marry a duke? Yes, it’s true. Unfortunately, she became smitten with a cobbler by the name of Sheldon. She gave up a future of ease and comfort for him. Now she lives in this huge shoe he cobbled together for her and she’s got so many children she doesn’t know what to do.

Still, I believe she’s happy. The shoe is no castle—the stitching is not tight enough so it leaks in the rain and the sole is rather thin, but she’s confided to me that she would not trade it for the finest mansion, so there you all. It takes all kinds I suppose.

Then there is Jack and Jill. I don’t know if I’ll ever quite figure them out. I believe they care about each other deeply, but they won’t commit. They seem perfectly happy trudging up that hill day after day to fetch that water. Poor Jack is so clumsy and Jill is not much better. Once he fell and nearly split his head open! I thought that would put an end to it, but do you know what? As soon as he was out of the hospital he was right back at it, going up that hill to fetch some water. I can’t work it out. And him with running water at home and everything!

Greg:  That certainly is remarkable. How does everyone feel about you chronicling their lives like that?

Mother Goose:  Most were tickled pink, but I will admit there were a few who were rather put out about it. Little Boy Blue was quite upset. He was not at all pleased that I spilled the beans about his habit of sleeping on the job. In fact, he was sacked because of it. But things happen for the best. He’s been hired as the latest member of the Blue Man Group—you know those interesting musical performers—and is now on a worldwide tour!

Greg:  Well, that is certainly good news. I’m glad things worked out for him! Thank you so much for stopping by to share the stories behind your stories with us!

Mother Goose:  Not at all young man. It really has been a lot of fun. Oh the memories! Now I really must fly. I’m headed over to Mary’s house. I’m going to be lambsitting. Do you know that little lamb still insists on following poor Mary to school, even though it’s against the rules? Disgraceful. Still, lambs will be lambs, as they say! I’ll get it to stay with me by hook or by crook, you see if I don’t! Ta-ta!

Did You Know? Mother Goose

Yesterday, I chatted a little with the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe, so today, I thought it would be fun to find out a little about Mother Goose. So that's what this week's Did You Know? is about. Without further ado, here are this week's facts.

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.