Dave wrote from India in 2013: "A version I heard during my childhood, seven decades ago, and I am quoting from memory..."

Who Comes Here? A Grenadier - Indian Children's Songs - India - Mama Lisa's World: Children's Songs and Rhymes from Around the World - Intro Image

Notes

Here's what Wikipedia had to say about Ginger Beer: "Ginger beer is a carbonated drink, that is flavored primarily with ginger and sweetened with sugar or artificial sweeteners... The original recipe requires only ginger, sugar, water, lemon juice and a fungal-bacteria symbiote known as a ginger beer plant. Fermentation over a few days turns the mixture into ginger beer."

Comments

Dave wrote: "It, of course, is not an Indian poem and I doubt too many Indians would even know it. It is just that my father recited it to me when I was only a boy and even acted out the role of the grenadier and his imitation of the transformation of the soldier's comportment from one of supreme self-confidence to utter discomfiture was simply hilarious."

The rhyme is from England as far as we can tell. Many British nursery rhymes are still recited in India.

Thanks and Acknowledgements

Thanks to Dave for sharing his version of the Grenadier rhyme!