Bo Peep

Origin[]

"Little Bo Peep" or "Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep" is a popular English language nursery rhyme.

As with most products of oral tradition, there are many variations to the rhyme. The most common modern version is:

Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep,

And doesn't know where to find them;

Leave them alone, And they'll come home,

Wagging their tails behind them.

The following additional verses are often added to the rhyme:

Little Bo-peep fell fast asleep,

And dreamt she heard them bleating;

But when she awoke, she found it a joke,

For they were still a-fleeting.

Then up she took her little crook,

Determined for to find them;

She found them indeed, but it made her heart bleed,

For they'd left their tails behind them.

It happened one day, as Bo-peep did stray

Into a meadow hard by,

There she espied their tails side by side,

All hung on a tree to dry.

She heaved a sigh and wiped her eye,

And over the hillocks went rambling,

And tried what she could, as a shepherdess should,

To tack each again to its lambkin

All published appearances of Bo Peep from before January 1, 1929 are in the public domain in the US.

Wolf! Wolf! (1944): Little Bo Peep and her sheep are the victims in this story that tips the hat to the Pied Piper of Hamelin as Mighty Mouse goes up against the wolves with a jazz soundtrack.