Three wise men of Gotham,
They went to sea in a bowl.
And if the bowl had been stronger,
My song had been longer.

--Anon

THE WISE MEN OF GOTHAM

In a bowl to sea went wise men three
On a brilliant night of June:
They carried a net, and their hearts were set
On fishing up the moon.

The sea was calm, the air was balm,
Not a breath stirred low and high,
And the moon, I trow, lay as bright below,
And as round as in the sky.

The wise men with the current went,
Nor paddle nor oar had they,
And still as the grave they went on the wave,
That they might not disturb their prey.

Far, far at sea, were the wise men three,
When their fishing net they threw;
And at their throw, the moon below
In a thousand fragments flew.

The sea was bright with the dancing light
Of a million million gleams,
Which the broken moon shot forth as soon
As the net disturbed her beams.

They drew in their net, it was empty and wet;
And they had lost their pain
Soon ceased the play of each dancing ray,
And the image was round again.

Three times they threw, three times they drew,
And all the time were mute;
And ever anew their wonder grew,
And they could not but dispute.

Their silence they broke, and each one spoke
Full long, and loud, and clear;
A man at sea their voices three
Full three leagues off might hear.

The three wise men got home again
To their children and their wives;
But touching their trip, and their net's vain dip,
They disputed all their lives.

The wise meen three could never agree,
Why they missed the promised boon;
They agreed alont that their net they had thrown,
And they had not caught the moon....

--Thomas Love Peacock.

THE THREE WISE MEN OF GOTHAM

There were three wise men of Gotham
As I have heard men say,
That needs would ride a hunting
Upon St David's day.

All that day they hunted,
And nothing could they find,
But a ship a-saiing,
A-sailing with the wind.

One said it was a ship,
The other he said nay,
The third said it was a house,
With the chimney blown away.

And all the night they hunted,
And nothing could they find,
But the moon a-gliding,
A-gliding with the wind.

One said it was the moon,
The other he said nay;
The third said it was a cheese,
And half o't cut away.

And all the day they hunted,
And nothing could they find
But a hedgehog in a bramble bush,
And that they left behind.

The first said it was a hedgehog,
The second he said nay,
The third said it was a pincushion,
And the pins stuck in wrong way.

And all the night they hunted,
And nothing could they find
But a hare in a turnip field,
And that they left behind.

The first said it was a hare,
The second he said nay,
The third said it was a calf,
And the cow had run away.

And all the day they hunted,
And nothing could they find,
But an owl in a holly tree,
And that they left behind.

One said it was an owl,
The second he said nay,
The third said it was an old man,
And his beard growing grey.

--Anon

I know this is an old thread, but it brought back fond memories; I can still hear my Mum reciting these versions to me.

A few HTML line breaks added. I hope this makes it clearer. --JoeClone, 3-Dec-02.