小波比

《小波比》在口耳相传中歌词多有变化，现代最常见的版本是：

Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep,

and doesn't know where to find them;

leave them alone, And they'll come home,

wagging (bringing) their tails behind them.[1]

小波比丢失了她的羊，

她不知到哪里去寻找；

羊会回来，我不用烦恼，

连尾巴也不会缺少。[2]

華特·克藍《小波比》，作于约1885年 播放^ⓘ

第二行有时也作"And can't tell where to find them"。第四行常作"Bringing their tails behind them"[3]，有时也作"Dragging their tails behind them"。童谣的旋律最早于1870年被作曲家、童谣收集者詹姆斯·威廉·埃利奥录下，见于National Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Songs[4]。

以下四节也常被加到歌词中：

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.[1][3]

小波比甜蜜地睡着了，

在梦中她听见羊叫；

她醒过来，就觉得好笑，

原来羊还在外面奔跑。

她马上拿起牧羊棍，

下决心把羊群找到；

那羊找到了，但情况不妙，

因为羊的尾巴都掉了。

（此节无翻译）

小波比叹息擦眼泪，

她跑遍所有的山岗；

她只能够尽自己力量，

把羊的尾巴缝上。[2]

童谣的最早记录见于1805年左右的一份手稿中，原文中称呼“小波比”只是因为她个子矮小而不是因为她年龄小，未成年[1]。16世纪有一种儿童游戏叫做波比，一般认为即指躲猫猫，莎士比亚的《李尔王》第一幕第四场也有所提及（Then they for sudden joy did weep, / And I for sorrow sung, / That such a king should play bo-peep / And go the fools among.），但没有证据表明这首童谣早于18世纪就已经存在了[1]。末四节则最早见于1810年书籍Gammer Gurton's Garland; Or, The Nursery Parnassus[1]。