Mother Goose
In literature, Mother Goose (French: Ma MÃÂère l'Oye) is a legendary author of nursery rhymes. No human writer has ever been identified with the name, the first known mention of which appears to originate from a French work, Loret's La Muse Historique (1650).The Contes de ma mÃÂère 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 bottÃÂé (The Master Cat; or, Puss in Boots)
- Les FÃÂées (The Fairies )
- Cendrillon (Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper )
- Ricquet ÃÂÃÂ la houppe (Ricky of the Tuft )
- Le Petit Poucet (Little Thumb )
Maurice Ravel (French composer) wrote an opus named Ma MÃÂère 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 rhymess, especially ones of a previous age.
It is also the name of a pantomime featuring nursery rhyme characters.
See also:
"Mother Goose" is also the nickname of a character of the movie Mad Max (George Miller, 1979), Jim Goose.