on the East Coast believe that the real "Mother Goose" was Elizabeth Vergoose. She lived in colonial times in Boston. Elizabeth entertained her grandchildren with rhymes and chants that she remembered from her own childhood. On her grave is a monument of the fictional character "Mother Goose" seen on the cover of the popular nursery rhyme books. No one can ever prove who she really was or where she came from, but in many people's opinion she is a combination of some real live characters and some fictional characters as well. Sandin states that "No matter how suppressive or scolding a patriarchal society is, it can not eliminate our need for the divine feminine" (Pars.5). Many of the rhymes from Mother Goose take the political opinion of the common people of the time. Some examples as found in Maeschilde's writings show Mother Goose's political tongue.Gorgie Porgie, Pudding PieKissed the girls and made them cry.This rhyme was attributed to a promiscuous monarch of the day. Another thyme that has political implications is Jack Spratt:Jack Spratt could eat no fat,His wife could eat no lean,And so between them both,You see, they licked the platter clean.This rhyme is a commentary of a fat, and greedy churchman, an Archdeacon named Pratt (Pars. 12-13).Back in those times people could only keep a third of their income because the state and the church took a third each (sometimes more) as well.Many other popular nursery rhymes were folk songs or ballads sung in taverns. According to Teresa Lightfoot one rhyme in particular "Pop! Goes the Weasel" was a song sung in a popular pub in England called the Eagle. The original rhyme goes as follows: All around the mulberry bushThe monkey chased the weasel.The monkey thought 'twas all in fun.Pop! Goes the weasel.A penny for a spool of thread,A penny for a needle.That's the way the money goes.Pop! Goes the weasel.Up and down the city road, In and out of the Eagle.That's the way the money goes...
