Which came first,
the fern or the fiddle
Must have been the fiddle
poking up out of the ground
in a woodsy place No
The fern came first and they
called it a fiddlehead No
If they made the scroll on the fiddle
why didn't they call it
a fern head fiddle
No The fern came first
growing out there all alone
no name all those years
then someone scrolled
the head of a fiddle
fern gets a name
Ever eat them
the fern not the fiddle
although it must look like the fiddler
is going to eat the thing butt first
Not I I hold the fiddle on my chest
play from my heart

Photo by Doug Mindell
About the Author
Dudley and Jacqueline Laufman live on the edge of the woods in Canterbury, New Hampshire. They earn their money by playing fiddles for old time New England barn dances.