Why does the cheese stand alone?

Coz it doesn’t give e-dam! Cheesy I know.

Because he was hanging out with the rat.

Because it needs to be protected so it won’t get cut… oh, dear, I’m making fart jokes. I need lunch.

@JilltheTooth Or a cocktail.

Or both…

Well, a Straight Dope message board says:
“Because “The Farmer in the Dell” is not just a song but a dance. At the beginning, one child, the “farmer,” stands in the center of a circle, and the other children sing and dance around him/her. On the first verse, s/he choses a spouse, and that child leaves the circle to join the farmer at the center. The spouse takes a child on the next verse; on the next the child picks a nurse; shortly after that it’s a barnyard menagerie that lasts long enough to pack the rest of the kids into the center, with the proviso that the last four characters “taken” are the dog, cat, rat, and cheese. The cheese, having no one left to “take,” stands alone, and gets to be the farmer on the next go-round. ”

@crisw I had totally forgotten until you mentioned it, but I did the “Farmer in the Dell” dance/song in preschool. I seem to recall it being a preschool popularity contest.

I think the first few posts are infinitely funner. ;-b