Chorus
I keep my dogs and I keep my ferrets
I have them in my keeping
To catch those hares that run by night
While the game keepers lie sleeping
My dogs and I went out on a cold night
For to view the habitation
Up jumped a hare and away she did ran
Straight into a plantation

Chorus

She had not gone a long way in
When something caught her running
So loudly then I heard her cry
For she knew the dogs were coming

Chorus

I took my knife all in my hand
So quickly for to paunch her
She was one of the female kind
How glad I was I'd caught her

Chorus
Then I'll go down to some ale house near
And I'll drink that hare quite mellow
I'll spend a crown and a merry crown too
And say "I'm a right good fellow"