Tune Req: The Yule Days/The King sent his Lady

Subject: Tune Req: The Yule Days/The King sent his Lady
From: MMario
Date: 30 Sep 04 - 03:03 PM

Found these lyrics out on the web - as "Traditional Scottish" - the only tune directions I find for it are 'Twelve days of Christmas" which i find doesn't do well for it at all.

Anyone know it?


THE YULE DAYS / THE KING SENT HIS LADY

The king sent his lady on the first Yule day,
A papingo-aye;
Wha learns my carol and carries it away?

The king sent his lady on the second Yule day,
Three partridges, a papingo-aye;
Wha learns my carol and carries it away?

The king sent his lady on the third Yule day,
Three plovers, three partridges, a papingo-aye;
Wha learns my carol and carries it away?

The king sent his lady on the fourth Yule day,
A goose that was gray,
Three plovers, three partridges, a papingo-aye;
Wha learns my carol and carries it away?

The king sent his lady on the fifth Yule day,
Three starlings, a goose that was gray,
Three plovers, three partridges, and a papingo-aye;
Wha learns my carol and carries it away?

The king sent his lady on the sixth Yule day,
Three goldspinks, three starlings, a goose that was gray,
Three plovers, three partridges, and a papingo-aye;
Wha learns my carol and carries it away?

The king sent his lady on the seventh Yule day,
A bull that was brown, three goldspinks, three starlings,
A goose that was gray,
Three plovers, three partridges, and a papingo-aye;
Wha learns my carol and carries it away?

The king sent his lady on the eighth Yule day,
Three ducks a-merry laying, a bull that was brown,
Three goldspinks, three starlings, a goose that was gray,
Three plovers, three partridges, and a papingo-aye;
Wha learns my carol and carries it away?

The king sent his lady on the ninth Yule day,
Three swans a-merry swimming, three ducks a-merry laying,
A bull that was brown,
Three goldspinks, three starlings, a goose that was gray,
Three plovers, three partridges, and a papingo-aye;
Wha learns my carol and carries it away?

The king sent his lady on the tenth Yule day,
An Arabian baboon,
Three swans a-merry swimming, three ducks a-merry laying,
A bull that was brown,
Three goldspinks, three starlings, a goose that was gray,
Three plovers, three partridges, and a papingo-aye;
Wha learns my carol and carries it away?

The king sent his lady on the eleventh Yule day,
Three hinds a-merry hunting,
An Arabian baboon, three swans a-merry swimming,
Three ducks a-merry laying, a bull that was brown,
Three goldspinks, three starlings, a goose that was gray,
Three plovers, three partridges, and a papingo-aye;
Wha learns my carol and carries it away?

The king sent his lady on the twelfth Yule day,
Three maids a-merry dancing, three hinds a-merry hunting, an Arabian baboon,
Three swans a-merry swimming, three ducks a-merry laying,
A bull that was brown, three goldspinks, three starlings,
A goose that was gray,
Three plovers, three partridges, and a papingo-aye;
Wha learns my carol and carries it away?

The king sent his lady on the thirteenth Yule day,
Three stalks o' merry corn, three maids a-merry dancing,
Three hinds a-merry hunting, an Arabian baboon,
Three swans a-merry swimming,
Three ducks a-merry laying, a bull that was brown,
Three goldspinks, three starlings, a goose that was gray,
Three plovers, three partridges, a papingo-aye;
Wha learns my carol and carries it away?

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Yule Days/The King sent his Lady
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 30 Sep 04 - 06:46 PM

It's described on other websites as "a forfeit game ... played in a semi-circle ... a rhyme was spoken by each person in turn and if they made a mistake a forfeit was paid".

Most of those are of the Neo-Celto-Pagan persuasion and acknowledge no source of any kind for the "information" they publish (usually copied from other websites), none of which should be believed unless confirmed independently, and checkably. I would think that the instruction to sing it to the well-known tune is no more than a wild guess.

The only properly identified online source dealing with it that I find easily is a pdf of Lina Eckenstein's Comparative Studies of Nursery Rhymes (1906) at  http://www.sacredspiral.com/books/:

http://www.sacredspiral.com/books/comparative.pdf

I don't know how reliable it is, but it's there. See Chapter XII, Chants of Numbers.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Yule Days/The King sent his Lady
From: leeneia
Date: 30 Sep 04 - 10:35 PM

Reading through these lyrics made me think of P.D.Q. Bach, the meter of whose dance music reveals that he had one leg shorter than the other. The lyrics seem to have the same kind of problem.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Yule Days/The King sent his Lady
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 30 Sep 04 - 11:10 PM

The Twelve days of Christmas got into the broadsides, but I couldn't find the "Yule" rhyme. The gifts seem to be all out of order. It is pretty bad.

(An Arabian Baboon?)

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Yule Days/The King sent his Lady
From: MMario
Date: 01 Oct 04 - 08:45 AM

true - I can see it being done as a chanting rhyme - hoping someone had heard it at some point

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Yule Days/The King sent his Lady
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 21 Feb 11 - 03:13 PM

The Yule Days (The King Sent His Lady)
posted above is identical to the version on Alice B. Gomme, 1894-98, The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

A papingo-aye is a peacock.