''Mother Goose in Prose'' is a collection of twenty-two
children's stories
A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''chi ...
based on
Mother Goose
Mother Goose is a character that originated in children's fiction, as the imaginary author of a collection of French fairy tales and later of English nursery rhymes. She also appeared in a song, the first stanza of which often functions now as ...
nursery rhymes
A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and other European countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes.
Fro ...
. It was the first children's book written by
L. Frank Baum
Lyman Frank Baum (; May 15, 1856 – May 6, 1919) was an American author best known for his children's fantasy books, particularly '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'', part of a series. In addition to the 14 ''Oz'' books, Baum penned 41 other novels ...
, and the first book illustrated by
Maxfield Parrish
Maxfield Parrish (July 25, 1870 – March 30, 1966) was an American painter and illustration, illustrator active in the first half of the 20th century. His works featured distinctive saturated hues and idealized neo-classical imagery. The ...
. It was originally published in 1897 by
Way and Williams of Chicago, and re-released by the
George M. Hill Company in 1901.
Contents
The book opens with an introduction by Baum that traces the history of Mother Goose. It is followed by the original text of a nursery rhyme with a broader story to establish its literary context.
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Sing a Song o' Sixpence
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The Story of Little Boy Blue
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The Cat and the Fiddle
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Black Sheep
In the English language, black sheep is an idiom that describes a member of a group who is different from the rest, especially a family member who does not fit in. The term stems from sheep whose fleece is colored black rather than the more comm ...
*
Old King Cole
"Old King Cole" is a British nursery rhyme first attested in 1709. Though there is much speculation about the identity of King Cole, it is unlikely that he can be identified reliably as any historical figure. It has a Roud Folk Song Index numbe ...
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Mistress Mary
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The Wond'rous Wise Man
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What Jack Horner Did
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The Man in the Moon
In many cultures, several pareidolic images of a human face, head or body are recognized in the disc of the full moon; they are generally known as the Man in the Moon. The images are based on the appearance of the dark areas (known as lunar m ...
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The Jolly Miller
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The Little Man and His Little Gun
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Hickory, Dickory, Dock
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Little Bo-Peep
"Little Bo-Peep" or "Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep" is a popular English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 6487.
Lyrics and melody
As with most products of oral tradition, there are many variations to the rhy ...
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The Story of Tommy Tucker
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Pussy-cat Mew
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How the Beggars Came to Town
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Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son
"Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son" is a popular English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19621.
Lyrics and melody
Modern versions of the rhyme include:
Tom, Tom, the piper's son,
Stole a pig, and away did run.
The pig ...
*
Humpty Dumpty
Humpty Dumpty is a character in an English nursery rhyme, probably originally a riddle, and is typically portrayed as an anthropomorphic egg, though he is not explicitly described as such. The first recorded versions of the rhyme date from ...
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The Woman Who Lived in a Shoe
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Little Miss Muffet
"Little Miss Muffet" is an English nursery rhyme of uncertain origin, first recorded in 1805. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 20605. The rhyme has for over a century attracted discussion as to the proper meaning of the word ''tuffet''. ...
*
Three Wise Men of Gotham
Wise Men of Gotham is the early name given to the people of the village of Gotham, Nottinghamshire, in allusion to an incident where they supposedly feigned idiocy to avoid a Royal visit.
Legend
The story goes that King John intended to travel ...
*
Little Bun Rabbit
Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt
* ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film
*The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...
The book's last selection features a girl named Dorothy who can talk to animals—an anticipation of the
Oz books
The ''Oz'' books form a book series that begins with ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900) and relates the fictional history of the Land of Oz. Oz was created by author L. Frank Baum, who went on to write fourteen full-length ''Oz'' books. Baum ...
. When Baum later included this story in his ''
Juvenile Speaker'' (1910) and ''The Snuggle Tales'' (1916–17), he changed the girl's name to Doris, to avoid confusing her with
Dorothy Gale
Dorothy Gale is a fictional character created by the American author L. Frank Baum as the protagonist in many of his ''Oz'' novels. She first appears in Baum's classic 1900 children's novel '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' and reappears in most o ...
.
Though handsomely produced, ''Mother Goose in Prose'' was priced relatively expensively for a children's book; it was "only moderately successful" commercially.
[Katharine M. Rogers, ''L. Frank Baum, Creator of Oz: A Biography'', New York, St. Martin's Press, 2002; p. 62.] Publisher Way and Williams went bankrupt a year later. Baum took a different approach in a subsequent venture, composing original verses for his ''
Father Goose: His Book'' in 1899.
Later editions
New editions of ''Mother Goose in Prose'' appeared from
Bounty Books in 1951 and after (),
Dover Publications
Dover Publications, also known as Dover Books, is an American book publisher founded in 1941 by Hayward and Blanche Cirker. It primarily reissues books that are out of print from their original publishers. These are often, but not always, book ...
in 2002, and Kessinger Publishing in 2004, among others.
Adaptation
The Jim Henson Company
The Jim Henson Company, Inc., formerly known as Muppets, Inc., Henson Associates, Inc., and Jim Henson Productions, Inc. (commonly referred to as Henson), is an American entertainment company located in Los Angeles, California. The company is kn ...
made a TV series based on the book called ''
Jim Henson's Mother Goose Stories'' (1990).
References
External links
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{{L. Frank Baum
1897 short story collections
Collections of nursery rhymes
Books by L. Frank Baum
Children's short story collections
Fantasy short story collections
Works based on nursery rhymes
1890s children's books
Books about cats
American children's books