The players stand in a circle. One of their number is in the center. He is the farmer in the dell. At the singing of the second verse, where the farmer takes a wife, the center player beckons to another, who goes in and stands by her. The circle keeps moving while each verse is sung, and each time the player last called in beckons to another; that is, the wife beckons one into the circle as the child, the child beckons one for the nurse, etc., until six are standing in the circle. When the lines, "The rat takes the cheese," are sung, the players inside the circle and those forming it jump up and down and clap their hands in a grand confusion, and the game breaks up.
The farmer in the dell,
The farmer in the dell,
Heigh-o! the cherry-oh!
The farmer in the dell.
The farmer takes a wife,
The farmer takes a wife,
Heigh-o! the cherry-oh!
The farmer takes a wife.
The wife takes a child,
The wife takes a child,
Heigh-o! the cherry-oh!
The wife takes a child.
The child takes a nurse, etc.
The nurse takes a cat, etc.
The cat takes a rat, etc.
The rat takes the cheese, etc.
The succeeding verses vary only in the choice in each, and follow in this order.
THE KING OF FRANCE
The King of France with forty thousand men
Marched up the hill and then marched down again.
The players stand in two rows or groups facing each other. Each group has a leader, who stands in the center and represents a king leading his army.
The game or play is a simple one of imitation, in which the players perform in unison some action first indicated by one of the leaders.