mother goose is a name connected with stories and rhymes for children. it has been used for hundreds of vears. but no one knows whether there was a real mother goose.
in some books, mother goose is pictured as an old woman with a crooked nose and a long chin, telling stories to children. in other books, she has atall hat and a magic wand. she is riding through the air on the back of a goose.
most mother goose rhymes are very old. people knew them long before they were printed in books. many of them came from england. some were really rhymes for adults. they made fun of people and things. the alphabet rhymes, lullabies, and game rhymes were for children.
some stories were also called mother goose stories. charles perrault, a french author, published a book of tales, including "sleeping beauty," "red riding hood," and "cinderella." the book had a picture of an old woman telling stories. A sign on the wall in french said "tales of mother goose." in 1729, the stories were published again in England. they were calld "mother goose's tales." in 1781, the same publishers brought out a book of rhymes called mother goose's melody.
many books of mother goose rhymes have been published in the united states. today, people think of these rhymes when thar hear the name mother goose.