Old King Cole was a merry old soul/ And a merry old soul was he./He called for his pipe and he called for his bowl/And he called for his fiddlers three. King Cole is smoking a hookah and is serenaded by his three violinists who are being conducted by a parrot. Illustration by the English artist Walter Crane (1845-1915) for a book of nursery rhymes Sing a Song of Sixpence (London, 1866). Colour-printed wood engraving.