The little girl usually accompanied her mother and
sat by her side upon the grassy mounds and watched her care for the
ewes and lambs, so that in time she herself grew to be a very
proficient shepherdess.
So when the mother became too old and feeble to leave her cottage,
Little Bo-Peep (as she was called) decided that she was fully able to
manage the flocks herself. She was a little mite of a child, with
flowing nut-brown locks and big gray eyes that charmed all who gazed
into their innocent depths. She wore a light gray frock, fastened
about the waist with a pretty pink sash, and there were white ruffles
around her neck and pink ribbons in her hair.
All the shepherds and shepherdesses upon the hills, both young and
old, soon came to know Little Bo-Peep very well indeed, and there were
many willing hands to aid her if (which was not often) she needed
their assistance.
Bo-Peep usually took her sheep to the side of a high hill above the
cottage, and allowed them to eat the rich grass while she herself sat
upon a mound and, laying aside her crook and her broad straw hat with
its pink ribbons, devoted her time to sewing and mending stockings for
her aged mother.
One day, while thus occupied, she heard a voice beside her say:
"Good morning, Little Bo-Peep!" and looking up the girl saw a woman
standing near her and leaning upon a short stick.
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