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Ever since reading BOE it's been annoying me, I can't remember the words to it. Can anyone help? I know it starts off with a 'stole a pig and away he ran', but can't get much further than that..
Tom Tom is not Tom Thumb. The second is the tiny boy from the Grimm brothers fairy tale, which is born after the poor peasants wife wishes for a child:
"Yes, replied the wife, and sighed, "even if we had only one, and it were quite small, and only as big as a thumb, I should be quite satisfied, and we would still love it with all our hearts."
And why does it open with the double barrelled 'Tom Tom' when he is simply called 'Tom' thereafter? Is his surname Thomas perhaps? By traditional formation his father would then be Thomas (the) Piper and Tom would be Thomas (son of) Thomas.