‘a merry little doe
Among the leaves so green, O.'
The Keeper
The song The Keeper was collected by Cecil Sharp from Robert Kinchin in 1907 at Illmington, Warwickshire, and he published it in his ‘Collection of English Folksongs Vol.2' (1909).
The earliest known version of this song is held in the British Library and has fifteen verses, it is dated circa 1680 and has the title ‘The Huntsman’s Delight or the Forester’s Pleasure‘.
It was included in Novello’s School Songs 1909 and The Oxford School Music Books Teachers Manual - Junior (Oxford University Press, Music Department 1954). It became popular in schools curriculum, and became part of most junior schoolchildren's education, and mine, in the 1950’s and 60’s.
