[3] A widely varying Peterborough version makes the remaining child a boy: The insect goes by a variety of other names in British dialect rhymes.

In Germany it is the Marienkäfer, where a nursery rhyme runs “Marybug, fly away, your house is on fire, your wee mother weeps” (Marienkäferchen, fliege weg!

[11] In a similar rhyme it is addressed as Himmelsküchlichen: “Sky-winger, fly away, your house is in flames, your children together in tears” (Deiner Kinder weinen alle miteinander).

[12] In Sweden the religious connection was maintained by calling the insect Jungfru Marias Nyckelpiga (Virgin Mary's keyholder), but with a slightly different rhyme.

[13] Because of the religious connotation of such names, one speculation would date the rhyme back to the 16th century and have it sung as a warning at a time when there was legislation against Catholics.