Ding dong bell, poor pussy has fall'n i' th' well, Who threw her in? Little Tom O' Linne, What a naughty boy was that To drown poor pussy cat, That never did any harm, But catch'd a mouse i' th' barn. (1797, cited by Rimbault.) Other variations of this rhyme mention Johnny Green (_c._ 1783, p. 23) and Tommy Quin (Rusher), which, considering the relative antiquity of Tommy Linn, are obvious degradations of this name. The rhyme in some collections is quoted in an enlarged form:-- Who put her in? Little Tommy Lin, Who pulled her out? Little Tommy [_or_ Dickey] Stout. I have heard also:-- Who put her in? Little Tommy Thin. Who pulled her out? Little Tommy Stout. Stout is perhaps a traditional name. For it occurs in the nursery piece on the old woman who went to sleep out of doors and forgot her identity. I know no earlier version of this piece in English than the one recorded by Rimbault which begins: There was a little woman as I've heard tell, Who went to market her eggs for to sell. It further relates how she went to sleep out of doors, how the man Stout "cut her petticoats round about," and how on waking she did not know herself, and decided to go home and find out if her dog knew her (1864, p. 6). But the story is an old one, for we come across it in Grimm's _Fairy Tales_, where it forms a sequel to "Kluge Else," (No. 35). In this the part of Stout is taken by the woman's husband, who hung her skirt about with bells, and it is further stated that the woman fell asleep when she was cutting corn. The same story in a more interesting form was recovered in Norway. Here we read that the woman fell asleep while she was cutting hemp, which explains why her mind failed her. For hemp newly cut has strongly narcotic properties. It was probably the herb which the witches smoked in their diminutive clay-pipes in pre-Christian times. Presumably on account of these narcotic properties sowing and cutting of hemp were associated all over Europe with peculiar dances, such as _Enfille aiguille_, our _Thread-the-Needle_. Its connection with heathen rites of divination is suggested by the well-known rhyme:-- Hemp-seed I set, hemp-seed I sow, The young man whom I love, Come after me and mow. (1890, p. 414.) In this form the rhyme is also cited in _Mother Bunch's Closet newly broke open_, as a charm to secure the vision of one's future husband. CHAPTER VI RHYMES AND COUNTRY DANCES