Mother Goose [antikvár]

Foreword There are many more nursery rhymes than are included in this book, though I think most of the best known are here. I have chosen those I knew and liked best in my own nursery days, and I have kept to the versions that I was familiar with. I think one may do so, as nursery rhymes have until recently been handed on only by oral tradition with its inevitable variations. At home we had no complete book of them: most we knew came direct from our elders. The children of the present day often have several different printed versions of the same rhyme, but they do not seem to be confused by them. They make their own choice, and go on inventing variations. And however much they altér and add to our old firiend Mother Goose's originál collection, they stdll make use of her name. A. R.