There was an old woman, as I've heard tell, She went to market her eggs for to sell; She went to market all on a market-day, And she fell asleep on the king's highway. By came a pedlar whose name was Stout, He cut her petticoats all round about; He cut her petticoats up to her knees, Which made the old woman to shiver and freeze. When this little woman first did wake, She began to shiver and she began to shake, She began to wonder, and she began to cry, "Lauk a mercy on me, this is none of I! "But if it be I, as I do hope it be, I've a little dog at home, and he'll know me; If it be I, he'll wag his little tail, And if it be not I, he'll loudly bark and wail." Home went the little woman all in the dark, Up got the little dog, and he began to bark; He began to bark, so she began to cry, "Lauk a mercy on me, this is none of I!" 126 LITTLE BO-PEEP Little Bo-peep has lost her sheep, And can't tell where to find them; Leave them alone, and they'll come home, And bring their tails behind them. Little Bo-peep fell fast asleep, And dreamt she heard them bleating; But when she awoke, she found it a joke, For they were still all fleeting. Then up she took her little crook, Determined for to find them; She found them indeed, but it made her heart bleed, For they'd left their tails behind them. It happened one day, as Bo-peep did stray, Unto a meadow hard by: There she espied their tails side by side, All hung on a tree to dry. 127 COCK A DOODLE DOO Cock a doodle doo! My dame has lost her shoe; My master's lost his fiddling stick, And don't know what to do. Cock a doodle doo! What is my dame to do? Till master finds his fiddling stick, She'll dance without her shoe. Cock a doodle doo! My dame has found her shoe, And master's found his fiddling stick, Sing doodle doodle doo! Cock a doodle doo! My dame will dance with you, While master fiddles his fiddling stick, For dame and doodle doo. 128 THREE JOVIAL HUNTSMEN There were three jovial huntsmen, As I have heard them say, And they would go a-hunting All on a summer's day. All the day they hunted, And nothing could they find But a ship a-sailing, A-sailing with the wind. One said it was a ship, The other he said nay; The third said it was a house With the chimney blown away. And all the night they hunted, And nothing could they find, But the moon a-gliding, A-gliding with the wind.