The Poem "Little Miss Muffet's" Popularity This popular nursery rhyme was written by Mother Goose, a famous fictitious creator of French fairy stories and nursery rhymes. It was published for the first time in 1805. The poem is about a young girl who is terrified of spiders. One day she meets a spider, which scares her so much that she runs away crying. She ran as fast as she could but the spider followed her home and when she reached out to grab some milk off the doorstep, he scared her again and she dropped all her toys and ran away from home. Mother Goose used this story when trying to explain that if you repeat something enough times, it becomes true. Even though this rhyme has been around for hundreds of years, people still think it's interesting to watch Miss Muffett eat her salad.