Burnie Bee Lyrics
Children once held a little bug on their finger and asked it a question, then let it fly away. Burnie Bee is one of those rhymes, four lines long and made for the garden.
Burnie Bee
Burnie bee, burnie bee,
Tell me when your wedding be?
If it be to-morrow day,
Take your wings and fly away.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/burnie-bee/
- Type
- Animal Rhymes
- Tune
- Spoken rhyme
- Best for ages
- 2 to 6 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| Burnie bee, burnie bee | Hold out one finger as if a bug is sitting on it. |
| Tell me when your wedding be? | Bring the finger close and whisper the question. |
| If it be to-morrow day | Count one finger on the other hand. |
| Take your wings and fly away | Lift your hand and flutter your fingers away. |
What Does Burnie Bee Mean?
The child asks the little creature when its wedding will be, and says that if it is tomorrow, it had better fly off and get ready. The words are really a polite way of saying "off you go" to a bug that has landed on you.
Burnie bee is an old country name. Most collectors took it to mean the ladybird (ladybug in the US), the small red spotted beetle that children love to let crawl on their fingers.
History and Origin
The rhyme is in Halliwell's Nursery Rhymes of England of the 1840s. Rhymes asking ladybirds to fly away were once said all over Britain and Europe, each area with its own words and its own name for the beetle.
Learning Activities
- Garden hunt: look for ladybirds on leaves in spring and summer, and let one walk onto a finger before saying the rhyme.
- Count the spots: ladybirds come with different numbers of spots. Draw one and count them.
- Be gentle: practice holding very still so a bug can walk away safely on its own.