Nursery rhyme lecturing to a child to take full responsibility for their tasks - no basis in historyu for its origins

"A Nursery Rhyme,
the first step to
your children's education"

Little Bo peep: lyrics

The origins of the story
This nursery rhyme depicts a nightmare scenario of a young shepherdess and the advice that might be given to her by someone more experienced! It is interesting that the name Bo Peep was probably derived from a derivative of the words bleat and sheep! There is no specific relevance to events in history for the origins of this rhyme. The morale of the words and lyrics is that one must take 
responsibility or face the consequences...

 
 

Little Bo peep has lost her sheep
And doesn't know where to find them.
Leave them alone and they'll come home,
Bringing 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 they were all still 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 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 again each to its lambkin.

Little Bo peep: sting in the 'tale' origins