Participants (probably 15 or more) stand in a circle.

One person is chosen as the Farmer and stands in the middle.

Everyone sings,

"The farmer in the dell,

the farmer in the dell;

Heigh ho, the Derry-oh the farmer in the dell"

and walk around in the circle.

The next verse is

"The farmer takes a wife . . .,"

which is sung as the first person chooses another person from the circle to come to the inside.

The next verse is

"The wife takes a child . . .,"

when the second person inside the circle chooses a third person to be the child. This continues with

"The child takes a dog . . .,"

"The dog takes a cat . . .,"

"The cat takes a rat . . .," and

"The rat takes the cheese . . .."

The final verse is

"The cheese stands alone . . .,"

-when all people on the inside of the circle go back to the outer edge of the circle and sing as the last person chosen "stands alone" in the circle.

Contributed by Julie - Midwest, Thank you!