The Animal Fair
April 1, 2008 at 12:39 pm 13 comments
I have no idea where this silly song originated, but this is the way I learned it:
We went to the animal fair,
The birds and the beasts were there.
The old baboon, by the light of the moon,
Was combing his auburn hair.
The monkey, he got drunk,
And fell on the elephant’s trunk;
The elephant sneezed and fell on his knees
And that was the end of the monk!
(…The monk, the monk, the monk,
And that was the end of the monk.)
My wife learned it from her mom slightly differently:
I went to the animal fair,
The birds and the beasts were there.
The old baboon, by the light of the moon,
Was combing his auburn hair.
You should have seen the monk:
He sat on the elephant’s trunk;
The elephant sneezed and fell on his knees
And that was the end of the monk!
(…The monk, the monk, the monk,
And that was the end of the monk.)I went to the animal show,
Where all of the animals go.
A big giraffe was making me laugh
By yelling, “Look out below!”
I went to the animal zoo
To see a gnu I knew.
But the gnu I knew would be new to you
If you went to the animal zoo.
Entry filed under: Animals, Kid Songs, Silly Songs. Tags: .
1.
George Browning | April 2, 2008 at 8:59 am
I learned it like this: “The monkey fell out of his bunk, and slid down the elephant’s trunk”.
2.
J Perez | April 2, 2008 at 2:21 pm
We learned: the monkey bumped the skunk and fell on the elephant’s trunk
Great song, thanks for the memory!
3.
Courtney | June 12, 2008 at 10:02 pm
I learned it like this… the funniest was the monk that climbed up the elephants trunk, the elephant sneezed, and fell to his knees and that was the end of the monk
4.
Bill C | November 13, 2008 at 6:54 pm
We sing it like this, The monkey and the skunk, fell on the elephant’s trunk, the elephant sneezed , aaaachooo,and fell on his knees,kerplunk, and that was the end of the monkey and the skunk
5.
Meg | December 15, 2008 at 6:07 pm
We learned “the monkey he got drunk, and sat on the elephant’s trunk, the elephant sneezed, and fell on his knees, now what became of the monk?”
6.
adam | June 19, 2009 at 3:53 am
My mum used to sing it like this:
I went to the animal fair
the birds and the bees were there
the monkey fell out of his bunk
fell down the elephant’s trunk
the elephant sneezed
went down on his knees
and what became of the monkey
monkey monkey monkey …?
7.
adam | June 19, 2009 at 3:59 am
…i forgot the stuff about the big baboon by the light of the moon etc
8.
Ali | September 17, 2010 at 7:45 am
That’s the version I learned, and the one I was looking for the lyrics to – thanks!
9.
Lucy | October 16, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Today, I suddenly remembered singing this from 8 years ago!! And I remember, instead of sinking ‘monk, monk ,monk’, we’d sing “Monkey, monkey monkey monkey etc”
10.
John | December 4, 2009 at 2:02 pm
This song was sung in the movie “Kramer vs Kramer”
11.
Mr. Macaroni Man | June 11, 2010 at 3:54 am
I went to the animal fair
The birds and the bees were there
The big baboon, by the light of the moon
Was combing his armpit hair
The monkey he got drunk
And sat on the elephants trunk
The elephant sneezed
And fell on his knees
And that was the end of the month
12.
Laura | January 17, 2012 at 12:05 am
This is the one my Poppy use to sing to me when I was a little girl. =]
13.
Rob | May 1, 2013 at 10:43 pm
I learned it as a hybrid of several already shared here, but it’s a little different still:
I went to the animal fair
The birds and beasts were there
The old baboon by the light of the moon was combing his auburn hair.
You should have seen the monk!
He climbed up the elephants trunk!
The elephant sneezed and fell to his knees
And that was the end of the monk the monk…
Later our music teacher introduced the alternate ending to us as 2nd and 3rd graders which ends in a question. Instead of the last line he said, Oh what became of the monk the monk? OH what became of the monk?
I remember someone answered that the monk probably met his we untimely demise beneath the knees of the elephant. To which the music teacher replied “nope.”
I raised my hand and was called upon after a lot of other guesses and I just said “He went flying through the air?” And I’ll never forget it because he said it was right.
However, now looking back that was just his opinion, does anyone know what really ever did become of the monk? Ideas? ;0)