Martin got the song from Vic Gammon, who seems to have got it from Cecil Sharp's collection; at any rate, the set Sharp noted from Fred Webb at Bloxham, Oxfordshire, on 15 September 1922 has the same tune and words, though obviously both have changed a little in the course of assimilation. (Maud Karpeles, Cecil Sharp's Collection of English Folk Songs. London: Oxford University Press, 1974. II, No. 324, p 374).

Garry was uncertain of "like fun", but it's right. The expression is a bit old fashioned today, of course, and rarely heard. "Three down" is Mr Webb's "three dozen", a bit contracted.

Mr Webb's version is the only traditional one listed (at number 2422) in the  Roud Index,  but the song was issued on broadsides as 'Five Cripples'; several editions can be seen at  Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads:

The five cripples.