小波比

《小波比》（），英语童谣，编号为6487。

歌词及旋律

《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.

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。

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"，有时也作"Dragging their tails behind them"。童谣的旋律最早于1870年被作曲家、童谣收集者录下，见于National Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Songs。

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.

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。

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。

起源及历史
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。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。末四节则最早见于1810年书籍Gammer Gurton's Garland; Or, The Nursery Parnassus。

参考资料

虚构羊
英格蘭民謠