In the popular song, there is no line to denote that the
item you receive is in addition to the previous days so it must be assumed each
verse contains everything sent to you on that day.
So, if the song is to believed, by the end of the Christmas period,
your true love will have sent to you:
12 Partridges in Pear Trees
22 Turtle Doves
30 French Hens
36 Calling Birds (whatever they are)
40 Gold Rings
42 Geese a Laying
42 Swans a Swimming
40 Maids a Milking
36 Ladies Dancing
30 Lords a Leaping
22 Pipers Piping
12 Drummers Drumming
Now presumably the gold rings are given so that you can
finance the new menagerie you’ll need to build for your newly acquired
collection of birds (you’ll also need a lake for your swans).
And with the 40 milk maids now in your employ presumably
they will come with at least 40 cows. At least in this case your true love has
provided you with a steady source of income once you have purchased the farm
land you’ll need for them.
Are the ladies dancing the whole time? Problematic given the
musical entertainment doesn’t arriving until day 11 and even then its only pipe
music. At least the drummers on day twelve can add a bit of beat to the proceedings.
The Lords are perhaps most interesting. Not only does your
true love have to gather together 30 Lords to send to you over 3 days (what
sort of Lords are these anyway?) they have to specifically be Lords who like to
do a lot of leaping.
All in all, I think I’d rather just have the gold rings.
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