Nursery Rhyme : Little Bo Peep

Little Bo Peep is one of the popular English nursery rhymes.

 

Lyrics

Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep,
And doesn't know where to find them;

Leave them alone, And they'll come home,
Dragging their tails behind them.

   

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.

Another version has the first verse as:

Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep,
And can't tell where to find them;
Leave them alone, And they'll come home,
Wagging their tails behind them.

Origin

There is no specific related event in history for the origin of this rhyme.

The story of this rhyme is about a young shepherdess who lost her sheep as she fell asleep while at her job. Eventually, she does find them, but not without consequences. The moral of this song is that one must not fall asleep when doing their work and if they do so, they will have to face the consequences.

Nursery Rhyme : Little Boy Blue

 

Little Boy Blue is one of the popular English rhymes.

Lyrics

The commonly used version of this rhyme is

Little Boy Blue,
Come blow your horn,
The sheep's in the meadow,
The cow's in the corn;
Where is that boy
Who looks after the sheep?
Under the haystack
Fast asleep.
Will you wake him?
Oh no, not I,
For if I do
He will surely cry.

Origin

This rhyme first appeared in Tommy Thumb’s Little Song Book, 1744 but the rhyme may be much older.

Nursery Rhyme: Rock-a-bye Baby

 

Rock-a-bye baby is a nursery rhyme and lullaby.

Lyrics

The most common version of this rhyme that is used today is:

Rock-a-bye baby, on the treetop,
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock,
When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall,
And down will come baby, cradle and all.

The first printed version was from Mother Goose's Melody (London, 1765), which has the following lyrics:

Hush-a-by baby
On the tree top,
When the wind blows
The cradle will rock.
When the bough breaks,
The cradle will fall,
And down will fall baby
Cradle and all.

Origin

There are different theories regarding the origin of this rhyme.

One theory is that it is the first poem written on American soil during the 17th century. Native-American women rocked their babies in birch-bark cradles that were suspended from branches of trees and the wind rocked the baby to sleep. It is believed that an English immigrant wrote the lyrics when he observed this. This theory cannot hold because the lyrics appeared in print first in England in 1765.

Another theory is related to the local legend in Derbyshire, England. Here it is believed that the song is based on a local character, Betty Kenny  ( Kate Kenyon ) in the late 18th century. She lived with her charcoal-burner husband, Luke, and their eight children in a huge yew tree in Shining Cliff Woods in the Derwent Valley. A hollowed-out bough served as a cradle for the babies. But the poem first appeared in print in 1765, and the late 1700 date of this legend does not reflect this.

The other theory is that the lyrics refer to events immediately preceding the Glorious Revolution. The baby here refers to the son of James VII and II, who was believed to be someone else's child and was smuggled into the birthing room to provide a Roman Catholic heir for James. The wind here refers to  Protestant wind coming from the Netherlands, bringing James' nephew and son-in-law William of Orange. William would eventually depose King James II in the revolution. The cradle here is the royal House of Stuart.

The other possibility is that the words are a dandling rhyme. This rhyme is used when a baby is being swung about and tossed and caught.

One of the earliest dandling rhyme that is quoted in the Oxford Nursery Rhyme Book is

Catch him, crow! Carry him, kite!
Take him away till the apples are ripe;
When they are ripe and ready to fall,
Here comes baby, apples and all.