Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep,
And can't tell where to find them;
Let them alone, and they'll come home,
And bring 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 still they all were fleeting.
Then up she took her little crook,
Determined for to find them;
She found 'em indeed, but it made her heart bleed,
For they'd left their tails behind 'em.
It happened one day, as Bo-Peep did stray
Unto 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 went over hill and dale, oh;
And tried what she could, as a shepherdess should,
To tack to each sheep its tail, Oh!