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:

• 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):

• 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

Du temps du bon roi Arthur.
C'était un roi joyeux,
Il jeta trois domestiques hors de sa maison
Parce qu'ils ne voulaient pas chanter.

Le premier était meunier,
Et le second, il était tisserand,
Et le troisième, c'était un petit tailleur,
Trois fripons voleurs ensemble.

Le meunier, il volait du grain,
Et le tisserand il volait du fil,
Et le petit tailleur il volait de la toile,
Pour garder ces trois fripons au chaud.

Le meunier se noya dans son barrage,
Et le tisserand il se pendit à son fil,
Et le diable posa son pied sur le petit tailleur
Avec la toile sous son bras.