- published: 05 Mar 2015
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"The Farmer in the Dell" is a singing game, nursery rhyme and children's song. It probably originated in Germany, and was brought to North America by immigrants. From there it spread to many other nations and is popular in a number of languages. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 6306.
Lyrics vary even within the same country. The following is a common version in the United States:
The rhyme is first recorded in Germany in 1826, as "Es fuhr ein Bau'r ins Holz," and was more clearly a courtship game with a farmer choosing a wife, then in turn the selecting of a child, maid, and serving man, who leaves the maid after kissing. This was probably taken to North America by German immigrants, where it next surfaced in New York in 1883 much in its modern form and using a melody similar to "A Hunting We Will Go". From here it seems to have been adopted throughout the United States, Canada (noted from 1893), the Netherlands (1894) and Great Britain; it is first found in Scotland in 1898 and England from 1909. In the early twentieth century it was evident as wide as France ("Le fermier dans son pré"), Sweden ("En bonde i vår by"), Australia, and South Africa.
The farmer in the dell
The farmer in the dell
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The farmer in the dell
And the farmer takes a wife
The farmer takes a wife
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The farmer takes a wife
And the wife takes the child
The wife takes the child
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The wife takes the child
And the child takes the nurse
The child takes the nurse
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The child takes the nurse
And the nurse takes the dog
The nurse takes the dog
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The nurse takes the dog
And the dog takes the cat
The dog takes the cat
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The dog takes the cat
And the cat takes the mouse
The cat takes the mouse
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The cat takes the mouse
And the mouse takes the cheese
The mouse takes the cheese
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The mouse takes the cheese
And the cheese stands alone
The cheese stands alone
Hi-ho, the derry-o