My father left me three acres of land, Sing sing, sing sing, My father left me three acres of land, Sing holly, go whistle and sing. I ploughed it with a ram's horn, And sowed it with one pepper corn. I harrowed it with a bramble bush, And reaped it with a little pen knife. I got the mice to carry it to the mill, And thrashed it with a goose's quill. I got the cat to carry it to the mill, The miller swore he would have her paw, And the cat she swore she would scratch his face. (_N. & Q._, VII. 8.) Another nursery piece is recorded by Halliwell which, in simple form relates concerning _Billy my son_ the sequence of events which underlies the famous romantic ballad of Lord Randal.[27] The story is current also in Scotland relating to _The Croodin Doo_ (1870, p. 51); it was told also some eighty years ago in Lincolnshire, of _King Henry my son_ (_N. & Q._, 8, VI, 427). The romantic ballad in five verses, as told of Lairde Rowlande, relates how he came from the woods weary with hunting and expecting death. He had been at his true love's, where he ate of the food which poisoned his warden and his dogs. In the nursery version the tragedy is told in the following simple form:-- Where have you been to-day, Billy my son? Where have you been to-day, my only man?-- I've been a wooing, mother; make my bed soon, For I'm sick at heart, and fain would lie down. What have you ate to-day, Billy my son? What have you ate to-day, my only man?-- I've eat eel pie, mother; make my bed soon, For I am sick at heart, and shall die before noon. (1849, p. 259.) [27] _Ibid._, I, 157: Lord Randal. Other nursery pieces deal with Tommy Linn, the Tam Linn of romance, who is the hero of many famous romantic ballads. The name of Tam Linn goes some way back in history. For the _Tayl of young Tamlene_, according to Vedderburn's _Complaint of Scotland_, of 1549, was told among a company of shepherds, and the name appears also as that of a dance, _A Ballett of Thomalyn_, as far back as 1558.[28] [28] _Ibid._, I, 256: Tamlene. According to the romantic ballads, Tam Linn fell under the influence of the fairies through sleeping under an apple tree, and they threatened to take him back as their own on Hallowe'en, when they rode abroad once in seven years and had the right to claim their due. Tam Linn told the woman who loved him that she must hold him fast, whatever shape he assumed owing to the enchantment of the witches, and that she must cast him into water as soon as he assumed the shape of a _gled_. He would then be restored to human form. Tam Linn of romance figures in nursery lore as Tommy Linn. His exploits were printed by Halliwell in one of the numerous versions that are current in the north. In these pieces Tommy Linn has only this in common with Tam Linn of romance, that he too is ready with a suggestion whatever mishap befalls.