Which French writer published the collection of fairy tales `Contes de ma mere l'Oye', better known as Mother Goose?
Mother Goose suppositions. It is generally accepted that the term does not refer to any particular person. Charles Perrault, one of the initiators of the literary fairy tale genre, published a collection of such tales in 1695 called "Histoires ou contes du temps passés, avec des moralités" under the name of his son, which became better known under its subtitle of "Contes de ma mère l'Oye" or "Tales of My Mother Goose". Perrault's publication marks the first authenticated starting-point for Mother Goose stories. In 1729, an English translation appeared of Perrault's collection, Robert Samber's "Histories or Tales of Past Times, Told by
Mother Goose Jean Loret's "La Muse Historique", collected in 1650. His remark, "comme un conte de la Mère Oye" ("like a Mother Goose story") shows that the term was readily understood. Additional 17th-century Mother Goose/Mere l'Oye references appear in French literature in the 1620s and 1630s. In the 20th century, Katherine Elwes-Thomas theorised that the image and name "Mother Goose" or "Mère l'Oye" might be based upon ancient legends of the wife of King Robert II of France, known as "Berthe la fileuse" ("Bertha the Spinner") or "Berthe pied d'oie" ("Goose-Footed Bertha" ), often described as spinning incredible tales that enraptured children.