Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son "Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son" is a popular English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19621. Modern versions of the rhyme include: The 'pig' mentioned in the song is almost certainly not a live animal but rather a kind of pastry, often made with an apple filling, smaller than a pie. Another version of the rhyme is: This rhyme is often conflated with a separate and longer rhyme: Both rhymes were first printed separately in a "Tom the Piper's Son", a chapbook produced around 1795 in London, England. The
Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes book would be raided again in 1922 to compile a collection of nursery rhymes called "Cecily Parsley's Nursery Rhymes" as a companion to "Appley Dapply". The book opens with a three-stanza rhyme about Appley Dapply, a mouse who raids cupboards for treats, and is accompanied with three illustrations, one which depicts a little mouse running away from a cupboard with a tray of pies: The following rhyme tells of Peter Rabbit's sister, Cotton-tail, and her implied courtship by a little black rabbit who leaves a gift of carrots at her door. In "The Tale of Mr. Tod", Cotton-tail is married