The Jolly Beggar The Jolly Beggar The Jolly Beggar also known as The Gaberlunzieman is Child ballad 279. The song's chorus inspired lines in Lord Byron's poem "So, we'll go no more a roving." A beggar comes over the hills one day, and knocks on the door of a local farmer and asks for a roof for the night. Curiously, he will not accept a bed in the barn, but wishes only to sleep by the kitchen fire. Late at night, the farmer's daughter comes down to lock the kitchen door. The beggar and daughter exchange words, and fall in love. They sleep
A-Hunting We Will Go Each consequent verse gets modified by putting in a different animal: Earlier versions of the song switch the words "a-hunting" with "a-roving", dating back to old roving drinking songs from the 16th century. A-Hunting We Will Go A-Hunting We Will Go is a popular folk song and nursery rhyme by English composer Thomas Arne. The "a-" is an archaic intensifying prefix; compare "Here We Come A-wassailing/Here We Come A-caroling" and lyrics to "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (e.g., “Six geese a-laying”). <poem>A-hunting we will go, A-hunting we will go Heigh-ho, the derry-o, A-hunting we will go. A-hunting we will go,