There's a discussion currently taking place on one of the Richard
Thompson lists about the ballads "Herod and the Cock" and "King Pharim",
concerning the phrase "full fences three" in the last line of this
verse:
If this be true, king Herod said,
that you being telling me,
this roasted fowl that's in the dish
shall crow full fences three.
I always assumed naively that it meant the cock crowed so loudly it
could be heard across three fields distance(i.e. a fence at the end of
each field). Was I wrong?
Best wishes,
Paul
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Paul Woods,
Assistant Librarian, Social Sciences,
Arts & Social Sciences Library,
University of Bristol Information Services,
Tyndall Avenue,
Bristol BS8 1TJ.
Tel.: 0117-9288029 (ext.) 8029 (int.) Fax: 0117-925-5334
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Home Page: http://info.bris.ac.uk/~lipw/paulhome.htm
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