False Fox

Chorus:
With how, fox, how! With hey, fox, hey!
Come no more to our house to bear our geese away!

The false fox came into our croft
And our geese quickly he sought.

And the false fox came into our yard,
And there he made our geese afraid.

The false fox came in through the gate,
And took our geese there where they sat.

The false fox came to our hall door,
And shrove our geese there on the floor.*

The false fox came into our hall,
And absolved our geese big and small.

The false fox came to our coop,
And there he made our geese to stoop.

He took a goose fast by the neck,
And then the goose began to quack.

The good wife came out in her smock,
And at the fox she threw a rock.

The good man came out with his flail,
And hit the fox upon the tail.

He threw the goose upon his back,
And out he went with his pack.

The good man swore that if he might,
He would kill him before the night.

The false fox went into his den,
And there he made merry then.

He came again the very next week,
And took away both hen and chick.

The good man said to his wife,
"This false fox lives a merry life."

The false fox came upon a day,
And with our geese he made a fray.

He took a goose fast by the neck,
And made her say, "Whickupquack!"

"I beg you, fox," said the goose though,
Eat my feathers, but not my toes!"

*The fox acts as priest at the death of the geese.

| Original Poem |