While Gamekeepers Lie Sleeping

I had a long-legged lurcher dog,
And I'd kept her in my keeping.
She'd flush a hare of a moonlit night, }
While the gamekeepers lie sleeping. } x3

One day a policeman collared me,
To have me in his keeping.
Your brindle made a moonlit raid,
While the gamekeepers lay sleeping.

I see her come out of the wood,
Across the fields a-speeding.
A partridge she had in her mouth,                   
While the gamekeepers lay sleeping.

But my dog's black and white you see,
So I'm not for your keeping.
He couldn't see, I'd brindled she,
While the gamekeepers lay sleeping.

One day his wife fell mortal ill,
He had to give up policing.
But I dropped one bird by his door each night,
While the gamekeepers lay sleeping.

She fared so well upon pheasant broth,
Her colour come back creeping.
So long as my bitch roamed abroad,
While the gamekeepers lay sleeping.

Now the bitch she pupped and I gave him one,
A brindle for his keeping.
Now he's left the force, and he roams with me,
While the gamekeepers lie sleeping.