I don't know. That's why I'm asking. ;-)

Honestly, though, I am not at all interested in whether or not Bertha Goose/Broadfoot/Mother Goose, or however you call her was an actual historical person, or whether or not she can actually be credited as the author of specific poems or wonder tales.

What I am interested in are the stories, themselves, that we tell about her, and the meaning that we attribute to those stories, and what that says about our relationship to, and expectations of, storytellers in the overall scheme of human society.

I'm also interested in learning about the legends surrounding Aesop, by the way. But, as with M. Goose, most of the things I find about him are concerned solely with whether or not he was a real person, and whether the stories about him are factually true. It's frustrating:

"This story cannot possibly be factually true. So therefore, it must be of no interest to anyone. Let's talk about something else, now!"

Sigh.