Bye, baby bunting

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"Bye, baby Bunting" is a nursery rhyme. There are several variants. One of the more common is:

Bye, baby Bunting,

Father's gone a-hunting,

Mother's gone a-milking,

Sister's gone a-silking,

Brother's gone to buy a skin

To wrap the baby Bunting in.

The earliest published version, as identified to date, appeared in England in 1784, with opening line "Cry baby Bunting," a title by which the rhyme is sometimes called:

Cry, baby Bunting,

Daddy’s gone a-hunting,

Gone to get a rabbit skin

To wrap the baby Bunting in.

Yet another (longer) version is:

Bye, baby Bunting.

Daddy's gone a hunting,

To get a little rabbit skin

To wrap his baby Bunting in.

Bye, baby Bunting.

Daddy's gone a hunting,

To get a little lambie skin

To wrap his baby Bunting in.

Bye, baby Bunting.

Daddy's gone a hunting,

A rosy wisp of cloud to win

To wrap his baby Bunting in .

Also known as Cry Baby Bunting.

One version (dating to 1842) may be of American origin:

Bye, baby bumpkin

Where’s Tony Lumpkin

My lady’s on her death-bed,

For eating half a pumpkin.

Bye, baby bower

My mom has plenty power

Eyes and ears and momic

Are all in her stomach!

The rhyme was memorably and sardonically illustrated by the great British artist, Randolph Caldecott.