How many miles to London?
Three score ten.
Can I get there by candle-light?
Yes, and back again.
Open the gate and let me through.
Not unless you’re black and blue.
Here’s my black and here’s my blue,
Open the gates and let me through.
Dan, Dan, thread the needle; Dan, Dan, sew.
—Suffolk County Folk-lore, p. 63.
How many miles to Babylon?
Three score and ten.
Shall I be there by candle-light?
Yes, there and back again.
Open the gates as wide as high,
And let King George and his family pass by.
—Wales (Folk-lore Record, v. 88).
| How many miles to | - | Barley Bridge? | |
| Banbury? | |||
| London? |
Four score and ten [or, Fifty miles and more].
Shall we be there by candle-light?
Oh, yes, and back again.
[Or, at Market Drayton.
Shift your feet with nimble light,
And you’ll be there by candle-light.]
Open the gates as wide as the sky,
And let King George and his lady go by.
—Market Drayton, Ellesmere, Whitchurch, (Burne’s Shropshire Folk-lore, p. 522).