I was playing with the Farty Pants Twins this morning and we were doing the “This little piggy” thing with their toes. You know the one,

“This little piggy went to market

This little piggy went home

This little piggy had roast beef

this little piggy had none

and this little piggy cried wee, wee, wee all the way home.”

Well that got me to thinking about the origin of that little nursery rhyme. I didn’t realize, at the time, that it was a Mother Goose nursery rhyme. I found out it was first published in 1729 in English. I had to dig further. Upon further research I discovered that there is no real clear understanding of who Mother Goose was. Several theories have been thrown around the literary community. There is the Boston Theory that Mother Goose was a woman named Elizabeth Foster Goose a Bostonian housewife that lived from (1635-1693) or possibly Mary Goose (1665-1758). Neither of these hold much water though. Then their is the legend of King Robert II of France. Legend has it that “Goose footed Bertha” enraptured children with her tales. No, I don’t think this stands up either.

Aha, I found it! It seems the consensus is that the first published use of the Mother Goose name came from the 1729 translation of Charles Perrault‘s 1689 book “Histoires ou contes du temps passés, avec des moralités” also known as “Contes de ma mère l’Oye”. This latter title translates as “Tales of my Mother Goose” This was published in English by Robert Samber in 1729 as Histories or Tales of Past Times, Told by Mother Goose.

So, there you go, a French guy was, or created, Mother Goose. Vive La France!

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