My dad used to tell me this as a nursery rhyme when I was a tot:

"Rory in the dory and the dory upset. Rory got a duckin' but he didn't get wet"

Same rhythm and cadence as the OP's phrase. Part of the same nursery rhyme? I only ever heard the two lines above but now I wonder if there is more to it.

My dad's also from Nova Scotia (Cape Breton).