Servants of King Arthur | In good King Arthur's days

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
Because they wouldn't sing.

The first he was a miller,
The second he was a weaver
The third he was a little tailor;
Three thieving rogues together.

The miller he stole corn,
The weaver he stole yarn,
The little tailor he stole broadcloth
To keep these three rogues warm.

The miller was drowned in his dam,
The weaver was hanged in his farm,
The devil ran off with the little tailor
With his broadcloth under his arm.

Available sung texts: ← What is this?

• D. Banks • D. Shostakovich

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Confirmed with Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes, ed. by L. Edna Walter, illustrated by Charles Folkard, London: A. & C. Black, 1922, page 137.

Text Authorship:

from Volkslieder (Folksongs) [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

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):

Researcher for this page: Martin Jahn

This text was added to the website: 2011-01-12
Line count: 16
Word count: 94