Three Jolly Welshmen

Three jolly Welshmen and jolly boys were they.
They went a'hunting on St. Patrck's Day.
Look a-there now!
They hunted and they whooped, and the first thing they did find
Was a barn in a meadow, and that they left behind.
Look a-there now;
One said it was a barn, and the other he said nay,
One said it was a haystack with the top blown away.
Look a-there now!

They hunted and they whooped, and the next thing they did find
Was a frog in the well, and that they left behind.
Look a-there now!
One said it was a frog, and the other he said nay,
One said it was a jaybird with his feathers washed away,
Look a-there now!
They hunted and they whooped, and the next thing they did find
Was a pig in the lane and that they left behind.
Look a-there now!
One said it was a pig, and the other he said nay,
One said it was an elephant with its trunk cut away,
Look a-there now!

They hunted and they whooped and the next thing they did find
Was a babe in the woods and that they left behind.
Look a-there now!
One said it was a babe, and the other he said nay,
One said it was a monkey with the tail cut away.
Look a-there now!
They hunted and they whooped, and the next thing they did find
Was the moon in the elements and that they left behind.
Look a-there now!
One said it was the moon, the other he said nay,
One said it was a cheese with a half cut away,
Look a-there now!

They hunted and they whooped, and the next thing they did find
Was a woman in the kitchen and that they left behind.
Look a-there now!
One said it was a woman, and the other he said nay,
One said it was an angel with the wings cut away.
Look a-there now!
They hunted and they whooped, and the next thing they did find
Was an owl in an ivy bush and that they left behind.
Look a-there now!
One said it was an owl, and the other he said nay,
One said it was the Devil, and they all ran away.
Look a-there now!

Note: one version of a real old one: first found in sixteenth
century play attributed (partially) to Shakespeare (The Two Noble
Kinsmen) This version from Southern Folk Ballads, McNeill;
collected From Mrs Annie Stevenson, TN, 1954
DT #315
RG