小波比》(英語:Little Bo-Peep),英语童谣,劳德民歌索引英语Roud Folk Song Index编号为6487。

小波比
乐谱
童谣
出版约1805年

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.[1]
小波比丢失了她的
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。[2]
 
華特·克藍英语Walter Crane《小波比》,作于约1885年 播放

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,
to tack each again to its lambkin.[1][3]
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。
(此节无翻译)
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。[2]

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[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]

参考资料

  1. ^ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 I. Opie and P. Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), pp. 93-4.
  2. ^ 2.0 2.1 外国名歌1000首. 山西教育出版社. 2003: 1723–24. ISBN 978-7-5440-2102-9. 
  3. ^ 3.0 3.1 Linda Alchin. Little Bo Peep Rhyme. Nursery Rhymes Lyrics, Origins and History. [7 September 2013]. (原始内容存档于2020-01-28). 
  4. ^ J. J. Fuld, The Book of World-Famous Music: Classical, Popular, and Folk (Courier Dover Publications, 5th edn., 2000), ISBN 0486414752, p. 502.