Il court le Furet

This French nursery rhyme is sung during games such as ‘Pass the Parcel’, and other games explained below.
More games that use this song are explained below.

Video

French Game 1.

–  Tell the children to make a circle and put their hands behind their back.
–   Choose one of them to be the ferret and stand in the middle of the circle.
–   Ask those in the circle to hold onto a piece of string behind their backs.
Threaded onto the string is a ring which the children must pass from one to the other while they walk around in a circle singing  ‘Il court le Furet’.
The child who is the ferret has to guess who is holding the ring and if he/she gets it right, she swaps places with the child holding the ring who then becomes the ferret.

French Game 2.

A child is chosen to be the ferret and all the other children hold hands and walk around him/her in a circle singing:

Il court il court le furet
le furet du bois, Mesdames.
Il court, il court le furet,
le furet du bois joli.

Then, still holding hands, the children lift up their arms to make space for ‘the ferret’ to pass underneath, zigzaging in and out of the circle.   During this time the following refrain is sung several times:

Il est passé par ici,
il repassera par là!

Finally the children cry  ‘il dort!‘  (he is sleeping), and the ferret curls up in the middle of the circle.
Children take it in turns to be the ferret.

The Words:
Il court, il court le furet,
Le furet du bois, Mesdames.
Il court, il court, le furet,
Le furet du bois joli.

Refrain:
Il est passé par ici.
Il repassera par là.

– – – –

English Translation:

The ferret runs, it runs,
The ferret of the wood, Ladies and Gentlemen.
The ferret runs, it runs,
The ferret from the pretty wood.

Refrain:
He has passed by here
He will pass by again over there.

For more French songs go to:
A Green Mouse French Songs for Children