Welcome to our A1 beginner English story based on the classic nursery rhyme 'Baa, Baa, Black Sheep'. In this simple retelling, you will meet a friendly black sheep who has three bags of wool. The sheep shares the wool with the master, the dame, and a little boy who lives down the lane.
This free graded reader includes story audio so you can listen and read along. Click on any word you don't know to see its meaning. After the story, you can use our lesson notes to practice new words. Enjoy learning English with this fun and easy story!
There is a . He lives on a . He has .
Every day, a man . He says, "Baa, baa, black sheep, have you any wool?" The sheep and says, "Yes, sir! ."
The sheep one bag of wool to the . The master says, "Oh, this wool is . Thank you!"
The sheep gives one bag of wool to the . The dame says, "The wool is so . I am very happy."
The sheep gives one bag to the . The boy lives . "Wow! A !" says the boy.
Now the master, the dame, and the boy are . The black sheep is happy, too. He wool to .
A black sheep lives on a green farm. He has a lot of soft wool.
Every day, a man comes and asks, "Do you have any wool?" The sheep smiles and says, "Yes, three bags full."
The sheep gives one bag to the master. The master says, "This wool is beautiful. Thank you!"
The sheep gives one bag to the dame. The dame says, "The wool is so warm. I am very happy."
The sheep gives one bag to a little boy. The boy says, "Wow! A soft bag of wool!"
Now the master, the dame, and the boy are warm. The black sheep is happy because he likes to give wool to good people.
The story uses simple words you can learn quickly. These nouns and verbs appear many times.
- Sheep, farm, wool, bag - nouns about the story
- Master, dame, boy, lane - people and places
- Lives, has, gives, says, likes - action words (verbs)
In English, when we talk about one person or animal (he, she, it), we often add an -s to the verb. For example: 'He lives on a farm.' 'She gives one bag.' This is very common for actions happening now or generally.
- I live → He lives
- I have → She has
- I give → He gives
The man asks: 'Have you any wool?' This is a polite way to ask if someone has something. The sheep answers: 'Yes, sir! Three bags full.' You can use this pattern for other things too.
Practice: 'Have you any milk?' 'Yes, a bottle.' 'Have you any books?' 'No, sorry.' Try making your own questions and answers from the story.
You did a great job with the black sheep's story! Listen again to the rhyme and point to the pictures of the sheep, the wool, and the bags. Say the words out loud.
Soon you'll remember them easily. Try telling the story to a friend or your family. Every time you practice, you get better!
Baa, Baa, Black Sheep comes from the English / nursery rhyme tradition and is best known as a nursery rhyme. This Yak Yacker article is an original learner retelling based on Traditional nursery rhyme; public domain, so the wording here is simplified for modern learners rather than copied from one old edition.
Older printings, translations, and retellings of this story can vary quite a bit. The original audience was usually kids, but this version is adapted for A1 Beginner learners studying English. Good for colors/counting/items.
If you want to look into the source tradition, start with Wikisource.
If you want to keep going, browse more in our English section and review the A1 English Vocabulary List. After that, try English Question Words for another useful next step.
