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(英语:James William Elliott)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,
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. 朱生豪译:她们高兴得眼泪盈眶,/我只好唱歌自遣哀愁,/可怜你堂堂一国之王,/却跟傻瓜们作伴嬉游。),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]。