The first verse of this nursery rhyme was often used in my French class as a counting rhyme (à la Eenie Meenie Miny Mo) to dismiss students at the end of the class period. For each word the teacher would point at a student, the whole class singing along, until at the end of the verse when it says, et puis s'en va ("and then it leaves"). The student being pointed at on the word "va" would get to leave class. The song would then repeat until the entire class was dismissed.