Mother Goose
In literature, Mother Goose (French: Ma Mère l'Oye) is the archtypical countrywoman, the teller of fairy tales and nursery rhymes. No specific writer has ever been identified with the name, the first known mention of which appears in an aside in a versified chronicle of weekly happenings, that appeared regularly for several years, Jean Loret's La Muse Historique (in 1650?): comme un conte de la Mere Oye ("Like a Mother Goose story").
The Contes de ma mère l'Oye (Charles Perrault's Mother Goose Tales), edited in 1697 by Charles Perrault (French author), is made of eight tales:
- La Belle au bois dormant (The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood)
- Le Petit Chaperon rouge (Little Red Riding Hood)
- Barbe Bleue (Blue Beard)
- Le Chat botté (The Master Cat; or, Puss in Boots)
- Les Fées (The Fairies)
- Cendrillon (Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper)
- Ricquet à la houppe (Ricky of the Tuft)
- Le Petit Poucet (Little Thumb)
Many of them were adapted for the theater or movies, especially by the Disney studios or by Jim Henson.
In 1765, John Newbury's Mother Goose's Melody, switches the focus from fairy tales to nursery rhymes, and in English this is still the prime connotation for Mother Goose.
Maurice Ravel (French composer) wrote an opus named Ma Mère l'Oye, suite for piano, which was then orchestrated and became a ballet.
The name is now used as a generic title for collections of nursery rhymes, especially ones of a previous age.
It is also the name of a pantomime featuring nursery rhyme characters.
See also:
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"Mother Goose" is also the nickname of a character of the movie Mad Max (George Miller, 1979), Jim Goose.
