From Shropshire Folk-lore: A Sheaf of Gleanings edited by Charlotte Sophia Burne from the collections of Georgina Frederica Jackson (London: Trübner & Co., 1883), page 557:


THE THREE JOLLY HUNTSMEN.

Two versions: the first has been traditional in my own family for at least fifty years, and Mr. Thomas Powell informed me is well-known among his kindred in South Shropshire with the single 'various reading' of ivy tree for old oak tree. The second is contributed by a Herefordshire gentleman who clearly recollects learning it from his brother about the year 1823, when the latter was at Shrewsbury School, and they met in the holidays. But the mention of 'the Downs' and the river Dee shows that this version cannot have originated in Shropshire. Air given, as sung in my own family.

1. There were three jolly huntsmen, went out to hunt the fox,
And where d' ye think they found him? Amongst the woods and rocks.

CHORUS: 'Tally-ho! Tally-ho! stick to it, my boys!' aloud the huntsman cries,
With a hip, hip, hip! and a hallo! and through the woods he flies.

2. And first they met a plough-boy, who merrily sang Tally-ho!
He swore he saw bold Reynard behind the barley-mow.

3. And now they met an old man, whose age was sixty-three.
He swore he saw bold Reynard run up the old oak tree.

4. And next they met a miller, whose mill went clickety-clack.
He swore he saw bold Reynard run up that very mill-bank.

Second Version.

1. There were three jolly huntsmen, went out to hunt a fox,
And where d' you think they found him? Behind the woods and rocks.

CHORUS: 'Tally-ho! Tally-ho!' (etc., as above).

2. First they met with a blind man, as blind as he could be.
He swore he saw poor Reynard run up a hollow tree.

3. Next they met with a lame man, as lame as he could be.
He swore he chased poor Reynard all up the river Dee.

4. Next they met with a miller, whose mill went clickety-clack.
He said he saw old Reynard run away with a goose on his back.

5. Next they met with a schoolboy, a schoolboy out of bounds.
He swore he saw poor Reynard, run all across the Downs.

6. Last they met with a soldier, a soldier dressed in red.
He swore he saw poor Reynard (Slowly and with great pathos) amongst the dogs,—quite dead!