Not mother?

Since next Wednesday is Earth Day, I was wondering why we
sometimes speak of Earth as "great Mother Earth". Among almost
all peoples, the Earth was at one time reverenced as the "mother"
of all. The Romans, for example, tell the story of how the two sons
of Tarquinius, together with Junius Brutus, asked the local Delphic
Oracle which one of them would succeed to the throne of Rome.
The oracle replied, "He who shall first kiss his mother." The two
Tarquinius sons raced home to find their mother, but the clever
Junius Brutus fell to the ground saying, "Thus I kiss thee, oh Earth,
great mother of us all." And the rest is history. Brutus, indeed, did
become the ruler of the Roman Empire.

Well, there you have it, dear bloggy friends. I knew you were just
craving this earthy little tidbit of knowledge, weren't you? And on
a lighter note, here's one of the funniest scenes from the film Dirty
Rotten Scoundrels. "Not mother?"