There were two commercial recordings regularly played on early '60s "Children's Favourites". Both were American so far as I remember; Belafonte is a possibility, but I rather think the earlier, fairly straight arrangement was sung by a woman. The later recording, which I hated, was a "modernised" and over-syncopated arrangement sung by multiple voices, with the dialogue parts alternating between male and female. It reminds me, thinking about it, of one of those cheesy "singalong" records that Disney used to put out in those days.