In good King Arthur's days
Language: English
Our translations: FRE
In good King Arthur's days, He was a merry king, [He turned three servants out of doors]1 Because they wouldn't sing. The first he was a miller, [The]2 second he was a weaver [The]2 third he was a little tailor; Three thieving rogues together. The miller he stole corn, [The]2 weaver he stole yarn, [The]2 little tailor he stole broadcloth [To]3 keep these three rogues warm. The miller [was]4 drowned in his dam, [The]2 weaver [was hanged in his farm]5, [The]2 devil [ran off with the little tailor With his]6 broadcloth under his arm.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes, ed. by L. Edna Walter, illustrated by Charles Folkard, London: A. & C. Black, 1922, page 137.
1 Shostakovich: "He threw three servants out of his house"2 Shostakovich: "And the"
3 Shostakovich: "For to"
4 Shostakovich: "he"
5 Banks: "was hanged in his yarn"; Shostakovich: "he hung on his yarn"
6 Shostakovich: "put his foot on the little tailor/ With the"
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Don Banks (1923 - 1980), "King Arthur’s Servants", 1953 [ voice and piano or strings ], from Five North Country Folk Songs, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (1906 - 1975), "Servants of King Arthur", 1943, first performed 1944 [ voice(s) and orchestra ], from Eight British and American Folk Songs, no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Les domestiques du roi Arthur", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Martin Jahn
This text was added to the website: 2011-01-12
Line count: 16
Word count: 94