Mother Goose

From the Quicksilver Metaweb.

Goosiness in a female was also claimed for the fabeled "Helen of Troy." So I'm willing to discount the French in this regard. The French claim "Mother Goose" was Charlamagne's mother, Queen Bertha of France, who died in 783. Bertha was supposedly called "Goose Footed Bertha" because her feet reminded her subjects of those of a goose. She is portrayed in French legends sitting at a spinning wheel telling stories to children as she spun.

Tying in with the mildly creepy depiction in Quicksilver the American belief is she was Elisabeth "Eliza" Goose of Boston and Charleston.The former Elizabeth Foster married Isaac Goose who already had ten children. The couple had six more. It is doubtful whether she was ever called "Mother Goose" by anyone outside her own family. Supposedly, one of her sons-in-law published a small volume of rhymes in her name; The book, if it ever existed, has long since disappeared.

In Quicksilver, "Mrs. Goose" is the part time nanny for young Godfrey.