Little Bo Peep is a character from a nursery rhyme and the title of that rhyme. Bo Peep is a shepherdess who loses her sheep and receives advice on how to get them back.
Commonly the rhyme goes:
- 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
Also common for the second line is "And doesn't know where to find them". As with most oral tradition there are many variations.
The character appears as 'Bo Peep' in Toy Story and Toy Story 2.
History
The exact origin is uncertain. Some attribute it to depression era, while others claim it predates that time, possibly to the Victorian era. At least one bookmark from Victorian era is illustrated with Little Bo Peep, so the origin may be even earlier than the Victorian era.
Additional verses
The following additional verses appear to originate much later than the first verse.
- 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 her 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 sheperdess should,
- To tack each again to its lambkin.
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