Went to sea in a bowl;
If the bowl it had been stronger,
My song would have been longer.

Frightened Old Man

There was a man and he had nought,
And robbers came to rob him;
He crept up the chimney pot,
And then they thought they had him;
But he got down on t'other side,
And so they could not find him;
He ran fourteen miles in fifteen days,
And never look'd behind him.

A Man with a Wife

I had a little wife, the prettiest ever seen,
She washed up the dishes, and kept the house clean;
She went to the mill to fetch me some flour,
She brought it home in less than an hour;
She baked me my bread, she brewed me my ale,
She sat by the fire and told me many a fine tale.

Crooked Old Man

There was a crooked man,
And he went a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence,
Against a crooked stile.
He bought a crooked cat,
Which caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together
In a little crooked house.

King Arthur

When good King Arthur ruled this land,
He was a goodly King;
He stole three pecks of barley meal,
To make a bag pudding.
A bag pudding the King did make,
And stuffed it well with plums;
And in it put great lumps of fat,
As big as my two thumbs.
The King and Queen did eat thereof,
And noblemen beside;
And what they could not eat that night
The Queen next morning fried.

Barney Bodkin

Barney Bodkin broke his nose,
Without feet we can't have toes,
Crazy folks are always mad,
Want of money makes us sad.

Funny Man

A man of words and not of deeds,
Is like a garden fill of weeds;
And when the weeds begin to grow,
It's like a garden full of snow;
And when the snow begins to fall,
It's like a bird upon the wall;
And when the bird away does fly,
It's like an eagle in the sky;
And when the sky begins to roar,
It's like a lion at the door;
And when the door begins to crack,
It's like a stick across your back;
And when your back begins to smart,
It's like a penknife in your heart;
And when your heart begins to bleed,
You're dead, and dead, and dead indeed.

Strange Man

There was a man and he was mad,
And he jumped into a pea-pod;
The pea-pod was over-full,
So he jumped into a roaring bull;
The roaring bull was over-fat,
So he jumped into a gentleman's hat;
The gentleman's hat was over-fine,