Umpqua Life
A Real Mother Goose A Sutherlin resident nurses an injured goose back to health and gets a surprise visitor months later. Story by Sarah Smith Photo by Thomas Boyd
M
other Goose is often cited as the author of hundreds of children’s stories and nursery rhymes, which have been passed down from generation to generation and remain synonymous with joy, childhood and storytelling. But who is Mother Goose?
No, of course not. But Elly Shafer couldn’t be blamed for wanting to borrow her moniker.
Sid claimed Shafer as his adopted mother, following her everywhere. Geese learn everything from their parents, including migratory routes and how to swim. “Whenever I went out to mow the lawn on my riding mower, he would run or fly after me,” Shafer says. “He joined our neighborhood picnics, and whenever he saw my neighbor in the early morning in her pink bathrobe, he would fly over to her, talking while she walked.”
A few years back, Elly found an injured juvenile goose on the hill behind her house. “He couldn’t walk or swim very well because he had a large golf ball-like growth in the middle of his wing,” Shafer recalls. “The day I spotted him, he was with his siblings staggering around.”
All good things must come to an end is a proverb dating back to the 1300s that reminds us nothing
Many have theorized the origins of the sweet bonnet-clad character, but none have ever successfully attached Mother Goose to an individual writer or orator. Is it possible she could be living in a nice subdivision in Sutherlin?
Shafer wasn’t able to capture him that day, but early the next morning Shafter managed to corner the critter, whom she would name Sid, and relocate him to a small cage in her garage. She suspected that Sid suffered from a vitamin and
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calcium deficiency. After weeks of treatment (and laps in his own kiddie pool), Sid’s health improved, the growth disappeared, and feathers replaced his baby down.
UV SPRING 2021
