This is Bird Note.

Mother Goose sounds old-fashioned.

So, let's bring her story up to date.

Everyone knows Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty.

They're Disney stories, right? Not exactly.

Three centuries before they helped make Disney famous, they were among the

original Mother Goose tales. And hundreds of classic nursery rhymes, like three blind mice

and Humpty Dumpty, were also first gathered under Mother Goose's wing. Such stories and rhymes

were long part of Europe's oral folklore.

The stories were first published in France in 1697 as Tales of My Mother Goose.

The book appeared in English soon after.

Just who or what was Mother Goose?

The name originates in an old French euphemism. Stories told by elder women were called

Tales Told by Mother Goose. Mother Goose was sometimes illustrated as an old country woman

wearing a tall hat and riding on the back of a goose. Or sometimes as just a big motherly goose

wearing reading glasses and a bonnet,

a friendly figure children could trust.

There's something timeless about big feathery friends for children, even today.

For Bird Note, I'm Michael Stein.

This episode is brought to you by Wild Delight Bird Food,

which aims to support wild bird populations

with clean, nutritious ingredients in every blend.

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