An Illustrator Drew The Only Known Photo Of The “Real” Mother Goose
She got lost in the shadow of her rich and famous husband.
Published in
6 min readApr 13, 2022
Once upon a time, in a land far away, there was a woman the whole world would one day know as Mother Goose.
Internet historians wag their fingers, sniffing their noses and assuring us that Mother Goose was not a real person.
Even Wikipedia says she wasn’t real. She was an “everywoman” they say. It was a catch phrase. They’re partly right. But partly wrong, too.
No surprise, really.
History remembering one woman that inspired a book 300 years ago is as likely as a 15 year old girl being cursed by fairies, sleeping for 100 years and being woken by the kiss of a prince.
Mother Goose was real.
She wasn’t old, she wasn’t “everywoman” and she wasn’t made up. She was as real as you and me.
She just got lost in the shadow of her rich and famous husband.
First, she wasn’t the queen with the clubfoot…
