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Q. Was Mother Goose a real person?

The origins of the Mother Goose A. character are mired in years of oral history and story-telling traditions. Despite there being several people who are referred to as the foundation characters for Mother Goose, the “real” Mother Goose is still unknown.

Some scholars believe Mother Goose goes back all the way to the Queen of Sheba, but that is disputed by most scholars. Other scholars believe she was Queen Bertha, the mother of the great king, Charlemagne. She is supposed to have died c. 783 and went by the nickname Berthe au grand pied, “Queen Goose-footed Bertha” or “Queen Goose foot” due to a misshapen foot. Other scholars have named another Bertha as the most probable model for Mother Goose. She was the wife of Robert II of France (also known as “Robert the Pious”) who lived c. 970-1031. Still others in the United States believe that Mother Goose was actually Elizabeth Foster, born in Charlestown Mass., in 1635, and married to Isaac Goose. Mrs. Goose, supposedly, took care of several grandchildren and entertained them with songs and rhymes. Her son-in-law, the publisher Thomas Fleet, is said to have published these rhymes in 1719. Most scholars are skeptical of the validity of this story because no copy of the book has ever been located. (Bramhall House) In 1697, Charles Perrault published “Histories; or, Tales of Past Ties, with Morals” that included an engraving at the beginning of the book showing a woman sitting in front of a fire and telling tales. A wall sign reads, “Contes de Ma Mere L’Oye,” or translated “Tales of Mother Goose”. This is possibly the first time “Mother Goose” was seen in print. (Vocca)

Bramhall House. (1962). Chapter I: All About “Mother Goose.” In The Annotated Mother Goose, 16-19.

Opie, I. (1975). The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes. 37-41.

Vocca, D. (2003). Mother Goose. Continuum Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature, 560-562.

Suzanne Sanders is the new columnist for the library. She is the Community Services Manager for the San Marcos Public Library and came from the Austin Public Library in 2015 after having served there as a librarian for over 20 years. She gratefully accepts your questions for this column.