A Fox went forth.
A fox went forth one moonshining night,
And he prayed to the moon to give him good light,
For he’d many miles to trot that night,
Before he got home to his den O,
His den O, his den O.
For he’d many miles to trot that night,
Before he got home to his den O.
And when he came unto a wood,
As on his hinder legs he stood,
A little bit of goose will do me good,
Before I get home to my den O.
My den O, my den O.
So off he set to a farmer’s yard,
The ducks and the geese were all of them scared;
The best of you all shall grease my beard,
Before I get home to my den O.
He seized the great goose by the neck
And flung it all across his back,
The young ones cried out, quack, quack, quack,
And the fox went home to his den O.
Old mother Slipper-slopper jumped out of bed,
She open’d the window and popp’d out her head,—
John! John! John! the great goose is dead.
And the fox has gone home to his den O.
So John went up unto a hill,
And blew his horn both loud and shrill;
Says the fox This is very pretty music, still
I’d rather be safe in my den O.
But when he came unto the den,
Where he had young ones, nine and ten,
Crying out, Daddy Fox, you must go there again,
For we think its a lucky town O.
The fox and his wife they had such a strife,
They never ate a better goose in all their life;
They tore it abroad, without fork or knife,
And the little ones pick’d the bones O.