But while they were making a terrible din,
Heigho, says Roly!
The cat and her kittens came tumbling in,
With a roly-poly, gammon and spinach,
Heigho, says Anthony Roly!

The cat she seized Mr. Rat by the crown,
Heigho, says Roly!
The kittens they pulled Mrs. Mousie down,
With a roly-poly, gammon and spinach,
Heigho, says Anthony Roly!

This put Mr. Frog in a terrible fright,
Heigho, says Roly!
He took up his hat and he wished them good-night,
With a roly-poly, gammon and spinach,
Heigho, says Anthony Roly!

But as Froggy was crossing over a brook,
Heigho, says Roly!
A lily-white duck came and swallowed him up,
With a roly-poly, gammon and spinach,
Heigho, says Anthony Roly!

There are various versions of the above narrative of a sadly disastrous
expedition, in English and in Scotch alike. _The Ballad Book_, a curious
collection, of which thirty copies only were printed, in 1824, embraces
one beginning:--

There lived a Puddy in a well,
Cuddy alone, Cuddy alone;
There lived a Puddy in a well,
Cuddy alone and I.
There lived a Puddy in a well,
And a Mousie in a mill;
Kickmaleerie, cowden down,
Cuddy alone and I.

Puddy he'd a-wooin' ride,
Cuddy alone, Cuddy alone;
Sword and pistol by his side,
Cuddy alone and I.
Puddy came to the Mousie's home;
"Mistress Mouse, are you within?"
Kickmaleerie, cowden down,
Cuddy alone and I.

And which goes forward narrating the almost identically same story:
which story, homely and simple as it appears, is of surprising
antiquity. In 1580, the Stationers' Company licensed "a ballad of a most
strange wedding of the frogge and the mouse;" and that same ballad Dr.
Robert Chambers printed from a small quarto manuscript of poems formerly
in the possession of Sir Walter Scott, dated 1630. This very old version
begins:--

Itt was ye frog in ye wall,
Humble doune, humble doune;
And ye mirrie mouse in ye mill,
Tweidle, tweidle, twino.

And the closing lines tell that

Quhen ye supper they war at,
The frog, mouse, and evin ye ratt.

There com in Gib our cat,
And chaught ye mouse evin by ye back.

Then did they all seperat,
And ye frog lap on ye floor so flat.

Then in com Dick our drack,
And drew ye frog evin to ye lack.

Ye rat ran up ye wall,
A goodlie companie, ye devall goe with all.

Of meaner antiquity,