The verse pattern and content of this song seems to have substantial overlap with the verses to "Who Built The Ark? Noah, Noah" as found in Ruth Crawford Seeger's book AMERICAN FOLK SONGS FOR CHILDREN. I expect the verses are interchangeable. It would be interesting to know the origins and divergence of both.

Now didn't old Noah build the ark?
Built it out of hickory bark.

He built it long, both wide and tall,
Plenty of room for the large and small

He found him an axe and hammer too,
Began to cut and began to hew

And every time that hammer ring,
Noah shout and Noah sing.

Now in come the animals two by two,
Hippopotamus and kangaroo

...3 by 3
Two big cats and a bumble bee

...4 by 4
Two through the window and two through the door

...5 by 5
Four little sparrows and the redbird's wife

...6 by 6
Elephant laughed at the monkey's tricks

...7 by 7
Four from home and the rest from heaven

...8 by 8
Some were on time and the others were late

...9 by 9
Some was a shouting and some was a crying

...10 by 10
Five black roosters and five black hens

Now Noah says, go shut that door,
The rain's started dropping and we can't take more.

OK so it violates the tenets that only 2 of each were allowed and that all the animals were included. Were the fish, marine mammals, nudibranchs, sponges, etc. left to fend for themselves? But then, it's only a counting song.

rich r

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 19-Mar-02.