Mary Had a Little Lamb

thumb|300px|Herry has a little monster lamb.
Mary Had a Little Lamb is a nursery rhyme by Sarah Josepha Hale, first published in 1830.
The poem was inspired by an actual pet lamb belonging to Mary Sawyer. At the encouragement of her brother, the young Mary brought her lamb to school one day, resulting in the poem still recited by children generations later.
The poem has been referenced in numerous Muppet productions over the years.
==References==
* Mary and her lamb have made occasional appearances on Sesame Street, usually performed by Fran Brill.
* The Sesame Street recurring segment "Murray Has a Little Lamb", is a play on the famed nursery rhyme, and features a rap/salsa variation of the classic song.
* In a Sesame Street News Flash segment, Don Music is trying to compose "Mary Had a Little Lamb," but he can't find a rhyme for "snow." Kermit suggests he try a new angle and the result is "Mary Had a Bicycle."
* Kermit interviews a distressed Little Bo Peep, whose sheep is missing, in another News Flash segment. One of the sheep they interview claims to be Mary's little lamb.
* In the News Flash segment "Cookie Red Riding Hood", the doorbell to Red Riding Hood's Grandmother plays "Mary Had a Little Lamb."
* Telly Monster does a Monster on the Spot report on the rhyme in Episode 2480. Mary's lamb is characterized as a Harvard-educated author named William F. Lamby (parodying William F. Buckley Jr.) who writes a follow-up to the story.
* In a Season 22 insert, Mary seeks help from Hoots the Owl and Chip and Dip to write a second chorus to her song, about her new black lamb. 
* Elmo, Zoe, Telly and Rosita perform a reenactment of the rhyme in Episode 4010.
* In Episode 4117, Elmo (who changed his name to "Jelmo" for the day) has Big Bird and the Birdketeers change Mary's nursery rhyme to "Jenny Had a Little Jam."
* Abby Cadabby tries to use her magic to find Mary's lost lambs in the book Abby Cadabby's Nursery Rhymes.
* Shadow tells the story of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" in Friends at Play of Bear in the Big Blue House.
* In the book Muppet Babies' Classic Nursery Rhymes, Baby Piggy takes on the role of Mary.
* The nursery rhyme is featured in the books The Sesame Street Dictionary, The Sesame Street Library Volume 2, The Sesame Street Treasury Volume 15, Read Along with Elmo, Elmo Plays Piano, Big Book of Nursery Rhymes & Fairy Tales and Muppet Treasury, among others.
* Herry Monster plays "Mary" in the On My Way with Sesame Street volume "Just Pretend." In the rhyme he has a monster lamb with blue fur.
* Prairie Dawn has a little lamb, and a cow, dog, baby chick, a shaggy friend with purple fur (Telly Monster), and another who was blue (Grover) in Sesame Street's Mother Goose Rhymes.
* Elmo Has a Little Lamb
==Adaptations==
* The Mother Goose Stories episode "Mary's Little Lamb" is based on the nursery rhyme.
==Song Performances==
* On Sesame Street, four Honkers attempted to play "Mary Had a Little Lamb" with their noses in a three-part segment. 
* David sings "Mary Had a Little Lamb" while Linda signs it. 
* Another Sesame Street segment features a string quartet tuning up before it plays "Mary Had a Little Lamb."
* Don Music performs a new version of the song in the interactive video game Let's Learn to Play Together, with silly lyrical alternatives chosen by the player.
* Versions of the song are included on the album Big Bird Leads the Band, Kids' Favorite Songs 2 amongst others.
* A little girl taught Pepe the King Prawn how to sing the song (as opposed to "Mary Had a Little Ham") in an episode of Muppet Moments.
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Category:Nursery Rhymes
Category:Literary References
Category:Sesame Street Songs
Category:Muppet Songs