[1] On subsequent evenings he comes home to find other strange items, such as boots, a sword and a coat, for which his wife gives him equally far-fetched explanations.

Finally, he goes to bed, where he finds a "sturdy man", who his wife tells him is a new milkmaid her mother sent her, to which he replies that "long-bearded maidens I saw never nane.

"[1] Another version appeared in R. A. Smith's 1823 collection, The Scotish Minstrel, as "Hame Cam Our Gudeman at E'en" ("Home came the husband at evening").

The early verses of this are much the same as in the Herd version, but in the final verse the husband finds a highland plaid, which reveals the stranger to be a refugee from the Jacobite Wars: Blind as ye may jibe me, I've sight enough to see, Ye're hidin tories in the house Without the leave o' me.

'[4] Child's B version was translated into German by Friedrich Ludwig Wilhelm Meyer [de] in 1789, and later spread to Scandinavia and Hungary.

[5] Steve Roud and Julia Bishop described it as "an immensely widespread song, probably known all over the English-speaking world, with the wording varying considerably but the structure and basic story remaining the same.

[8] A version of the song called "Seven Drunken Nights"[9] was a hit single for Irish folk group The Dubliners in 1967, reaching No.

[10] A Danish version of the song featured in the historical drama series 1864, where it was sung by soldiers before a battle.

The days include a horse (cow, saddled) a hat (chamberpot, from straw), pants (rags, with a zipper), a stranger's head (cabbage with a moustache), and, finally, a baby which doesn't look like the cowboy's (a log, but one which pees).