Let's see if I can transcribe exactly what's in the book, Animal Folk Songs for Children (Ruth Crawford Seeger, 1950):
And We Hunted and We Hunted
(Three Jolly Welshmen)
And we hunted and we hunted and we hunted and we found
A pig in the lane and him we left behind.
Look 'ee there!
Some said it was a pig but others said nay.
Some said it was an elephant with its snout shot away.
Look 'ee there!
And we hunted and we hunted and we hunted and we found
A frog in the well and him we left behind.
Look 'ee there!
Some said it was a frog but others said nay.
Some said it was a canary with his feathers washed away.
Look 'ee there!
And we hunted and we hunted and we hunted and we found
A man in the road and him we left behind.
Look 'ee there!
Some said it was a man but others said nay.
Some said it was a monkey with his tail cut away.
Look 'ee there!
And we hunted and we hunted and we hunted and we found
An owl in an ivy bush and him we left behind.
Look 'ee there!
Some said it was an owl but others said nay.
Some said it was the devil and we all ran away.
Look 'ee there!
Verses:
A pig in the lane an elephant with its snout shot away. A frog in the well a canary with his feathers washed away. A man in the road a monkey with his tail cut away. An owl in an ivy bush the devil and we all ran away. A horse in the wooda deer, but its horns are shot away A cat in the wood an owl, but its ears are shot away The moon in the elements a cheese, but the half's cut away A hedgehog a pincushion with the pins stuck in the wrong way. A girl in a cottage an angel with her wings blown away A barn in the meadow a church with the steeple washed away A ship in full sail a washtub with the clothes hung out to dry A snake in the grass a branch with the twigs cut away A ball in the road a turtle with its legs tucked away A child in the bed a bear, and we all ran away or a pony gone to sleep on the hay or any number of other things
Ruth Crawford Seeger said one traditional singer claimed he knew upward of a hundred stanzas of this old nonsense song, made up around the lumber camp in which he learned the song. The tune is the same as Three Jolly Welchmen in the Digital Tradition (the Seeger tune is in 2/4, and the DT tune switches between 4/4 and 2/4 -otherwise, they're the same)