CCXC.
There were three jovial Welshmen,
As I have heard them say,
And they would go a-hunting
Upon St. David'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.
One said it was the moon,
The other he said, nay;
The third said it was a cheese,
And half o't cut away.
And all the day they hunted,
And nothing could they find
But a hedgehog in a bramble bush,
And that they left behind.
The first said it was a hedgehog,
The second he said, nay;
The third it was a pincushion,
And the pins stuck in wrong way.
And all the night they hunted,
And nothing could they find
But a hare in a turnip field,
And that they left behind.
The first said it was a hare,
The second he said, nay;
The third said it was a calf,
And the cow had run away.
And all the day they hunted,
And nothing could they find
But an owl in a holly tree,
And that they left behind.
One said it was an owl,
The other he said, nay;
The third said 'twas an old man,
And his beard growing grey.