Welcome to our free A1 English story, 'Little Boy Blue'! This is a simple retelling of the classic nursery rhyme for beginner English learners (CEFR A1). In the story, a little boy named Blue is supposed to watch the sheep and the cow, but he falls asleep under a haystack instead. What happens when the animals wander off?
As you read, you can click on any word to see its meaning. There's also story audio so you can listen and read along. After the story, you'll find a short lesson with notes to help you practice new words and grammar. It's a fun and easy way to improve your English for free!
The language is very simple, with present tense verbs and basic vocabulary about farm animals and places. Let's start reading and learning!
Little Boy Blue the sheep and the cow. He has a .
The sheep is in the . The cow is in the .
"Little Boy Blue, !" says a man. "The sheep is in the meadow. The cow is in the corn."
But Little Boy Blue is under the . He . His horn is on the grass.
A bird says, "! ! Your horn is on the grass!"
Little Boy Blue . He the horn.
He the horn. The sheep . The cow comes. Little Boy Blue is .
Little Boy Blue watches the sheep and cow. He has a horn.
The sheep is in the grassy field. The cow is in the cornfield.
A man tells Little Boy Blue to blow his horn because the sheep is in the meadow and the cow is in the corn.
But Little Boy Blue is sleeping under a haystack. His horn is on the grass.
A bird tells him to wake up because his horn is on the grass.
Little Boy Blue wakes up and sees the horn.
He blows the horn. The sheep and cow come back. He is happy.
In this gentle story, you met a sheep, a cow, and a sleepy boy with a horn. Let's learn these friendly farm words together.
Here are the key words from the story. Try to say each one out loud.
- sheep - a white, woolly animal that says "baa"
- cow - a large animal that gives us milk
- meadow - a green field of grass where animals eat
- corn - tall plants with yellow seeds, often in a field
- haystack - a big, warm pile of dry grass
- horn - a musical instrument you blow to make a loud sound
The story is full of simple, useful action words. Many of them are commands - when you tell someone to do something.
Notice how the story uses these verbs. You can use them in your daily life!
- blow - push air from your mouth (blow a horn, blow out a candle)
- wake up - stop sleeping and open your eyes
- look after - take care of someone or something
- come - move closer to the speaker
Little words like "in," "under," and "on" tell us where something is. Let's see how the story uses them.
These words are very common. Learning them will help you describe places and positions.
- in - inside or within a place (The sheep is in the meadow.)
- under - below something, often covered by it (The boy is under the haystack.)
- on - touching the top of something (The horn is on the grass.)
Now go back and read the story again. Can you find all the animals and places? Point and say: "The sheep is in the meadow."
Try telling the story to a friend or drawing a farm picture. Label the sheep, cow, meadow, corn, haystack, and horn. You're doing great!
Little Boy Blue 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. Farm/sleep vocabulary.
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.
