Ladybird Ladybird (Nursery Rhyme)

Summary

"Ladybird Ladybird" is a short nursery rhyme that carries a surprisingly urgent and eerie mood beneath its simple lines. A ladybird is warned that her house is on fire and her children have fled — all except one small daughter named Ann, who hides beneath the baking pan. In just four lines, the rhyme conjures a vivid scene of danger and solitude, leaving the fate of the little ladybird's home hanging in the air with quiet, unsettling weight.


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Ladybird, ladybird fly away home,
Your house is on fire and your children are gone,
All except one, and her name is Ann,
And she hid under the baking pan.


Credits

Ririro is the in-house editorial team at Ririro.com, dedicated to bringing free, carefully curated nursery rhymes, stories, and poems to readers everywhere. "Ladybird Ladybird" is one of the oldest surviving English nursery rhymes, with recorded versions dating back to at least the eighteenth century, and has been recited by generations of children across the English-speaking world.