Charles Perrault’s Publishing His Fairy Tale Collection In 1695 Was The First Authenticated Starting-Point For Mother Goose Stories

National Mother Goose Day on May 1 honors the imaginary author of a collection of fairy tales and nursery rhymes we loved as children. Most of us remember Mother Goose as an elderly countrywoman in a tall hat and shawl, but she is sometimes seen as a goose wearing a bonnet.

• 850 AD – The very first Cinderella tale was actually recorded around AD 850 in China. She was known as Yehhsien. Her shoes were made of gold and she wore a dress that was made of kingfisher feathers.
• 10th Century – The true identity of Mother Goose is a great debate among historians. Some people believe Mother Goose dates back to before the 10th century during the reign of King Robert II. Legend says his wife often told exaggerated tales to keep the interest of children.
• 17th Century – ‘Remember Remember’ is a nursery rhyme that talks about Guy Fawkes’ failed attempt to blow up the English House of Parliament.
• 17th Century – In American culture, Mother Goose was a woman who lived in Boston sometime during the late 17th century. Elizabeth Foster Goose, or maybe Mary Goose, was the wife of Isaac Goose.
• 1695 – Charles Perrault is said to be the initiator of the fairy tale genre after publishing his fairy tale collection in 1695. His publication marks the first authenticated starting-point for the Mother Goose stories.
• 1729 – The English version of Charles Perrault’s collection appeared. It was these fairy tales that introduced Cinderella, Puss in Boots, Little Red Riding Hood, and Sleeping Beauty.
• 1781 – Robert Samber’s Histories or Tales of Past Times, Told by Mother Goose. These fairy tales introduced Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots, Cinderella, and others. Mother Goose’s Melody, a book of poems for children, was first published in 1781
• 1797 – While some sources say that Humpty Dumpty was based on true events involving Cardinal Wolsey and a canon from the English Civil War, the earliest version of the story was published in Samuel Arnold’s “Juvenile Amusements.”
• 19th Century – The first set of printed nursery rhyme collections was distributed in the U.K. and the U.S.A., with “Mother Goose’s Melody” being one of the most prominent and sought-after books.
• 1823 – Edgar Taylor translated and published the Grimm brothers’ stories in England 1823.
• 1986 – Britain is caught up in a controversy over language changes in ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’ for being racially dubious.
• 1987 – Gloria T. Delamar, in tandem with the publication of her book, Mother Goose; From Nursery to Literature, founded Mother Goose Day.
• Many of the original versions of fairy tales and nursery rhymes had much darker themes than the ones that we have today.
  • When Little Red Riding Hood first came out, it was used for the purpose of warning children about the dangerous wild animals that lived in the woods.
  • In the Little Mermaid story, instead of Ariel’s happy ending, she returns to the sea and dies after turning into sea foam.
  • In the Roald Dahl version of Red Riding Hood was not as helpless as she was in the story we all know and love. In fact, she strikes back at the wolf!
• The Grimm brothers intended for their fairy tales to be read by adults instead of children, and this is also why the original fairy tales were much more gruesome than the ‘clean and safe’ versions today.
• The Grimm brothers were not the actual writers of the stories but were only collectors of them whose sole purpose it was to preserve the German oral traditions’ stories that had been passed down for generations.

Sources: 

National Day Calendar

Days of the Year

National Today