American versions of "The Fox" from about the late 1940s forward are likely to be, or have been influenced by, Burl Ives' widely circulated records of the song. This would apply to the "American version" that Malcolm Douglas lists as his #1.

By the way, I remember hearing from the late Jim Butler a Scots version not in the DT (tod = fox) that begins:

THE TOD
Hech, said the tod, 'tis a braw licht nicht,
The wind's in the wast and the mune shines bricht,
The wind's in the wast and the mune shines bricht,
And I'm awa tae the toon, O.

Up gat the auld wife oot o' her bed,
An' oot o' the window she cocked her auld heid,
Sayin', Eh, goodman, the gray goose is deid,
An' the tod has been i' the toon, O.

Remainder not recalled. No source known, but Jim, an avid folksong scholar, probably got it from a printed collection.

Bob