I thought of this song last night. It's funny, it comes up as "The Riddle Song", but I learned it as "The Stone Song." Here's the way I learned it, with my changes in parentheses:

I gave my love a cherry that had no stone.
I gave my love a chicken that had no bone.
(I gave my love a story that has no end
and I gave my love a baby with no cryin'.)

How can there be a cherry that has no stone?
How can there be a chicken (without a) bone?
(How can there be a story without an end?
and how can there be a baby with no cryin'?)

(Well,) a cherry when it's bloomin', (it has) no stone
A chicken when it's peepin', it has no bone.
(A story, when it's a lover's, it has no end
And a baby, when it's sleepin', has no crying.)

I think I like my version better. It makes more sense as a lullaby that way. I used to sing it to my campers when I was a jr. counselor, and learned it when I was a camper myself. It's a pretty, simple, little song.

| | link