"Little Boy Blue" is an English-language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 11318.

Lyrics

A common version of the rhyme is:

Little Boy Blue, Come blow your horn. The sheep's in the meadow, The cow's in the corn. Where is the boy Who looks after the sheep? He's under the haystack, Fast asleep. Will you wake him? No, not I, For if I do, He's sure to cry.

Origins and meaning

The earliest printed version of the rhyme is in ''Tommy Thumb's Little Song Book'' (c. 1744), but the rhyme may be much older. It may be alluded to in

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

King Lear ''King Lear'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between two of his daughters. He becomes destitute and insane ...

(III, vi) when Edgar, masquerading as Mad Tom, says:

Sleepest or wakest thou, jolly shepheard? :Thy sheepe be in the corne; And for one blast of thy minikin mouth :Thy sheepe shall take no harme. I. Opie and P. Opie, ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), pp. 98–9.

It has been argued that Little Boy Blue was intended to represent Cardinal Wolsey, who was the son of an Ipswich butcher, who may have acted as a hayward to his father's livestock, but there is no corroborative evidence to support this assertion. A more plausible, simpler, suggestion, avoiding any reference to Wolsey, is made by George Homans in his book ''English Villagers of the 13th Century'', who writes, after quoting ''Piers Plowmans description of the hayward and his horn: "The hayward's horn, his badge of office, must have been used to give warning that cattle or other trespassers were in the corn. Little Boy Blue was a hayward." George C Homans, ''English Villagers of the Thirteenth Century'', Harvard University Press, 2nd printing, 1942 p 294

References

{{authority control Child characters in literature Cattle in literature Fictional sheep Fictional shepherds Fictional musicians Songs about children Songs about musicians Songs about musical instruments Songs about shepherds English nursery rhymes Songwriter unknown Year of song unknown 18th-century songs English folk songs English children's songs Traditional children's songs