Leslie wrote me…
Can you supply me with the last line to this nursery rhyme:
John, John the Piper’s son
He stole a pig and away he run
The pig got eat and John got beat…
I couldn’t find the rhyme using the name John, but I found a very similar version with the name Tom…
Tom, Tom the Piper’s son,
Stole a pig and away he run;
The pig was eat
And Tom was beat,
And Tom went howling down the street.
If anyone would like to send another version of this rhyme, please comment below.
Thanks!
Lisa
This article was posted on Tuesday, March 14th, 2006 at 6:17 pm and is filed under Countries & Cultures, English, English Nursery Rhymes, Languages, Nursery Rhymes, Tom, Tom, The Piper's Son, United Kingdom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
April 25th, 2006 at 10:49 am
Last line: And Tom went crying down the street.
July 13th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
I learned the “John” version as a child:
John, John the Piper’s son,
stole a pig and away he run.
The pig got eat;
John got beat,
sent him running down the street.
I’ve also heard “. . . crying down the street.”
September 4th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
The way I heard it as a kid, goes like this:
John, John, the piper’s son
Stole a pig and away he run,
pig got loose,
killed a goose,
they put poor John in the calaboose.
December 18th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
john john the pipers son
stole the pig and away he run
the pig got loose and killed a goose
and john got thrown in a calaboose.
January 30th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
John John the Pipers’ Son,
Stole a Pig and away he run;
John tripped on a Goose,
and the Pig got loose
This left John with nothing to eat,
As john went crying down the street…
Heard this when I was a boy in Arkansas… John Sims.
johnbsimssr@msn.com
August 14th, 2010 at 3:05 am
The version my dad used is: Tom, Tom, the piper’s son stole a pig and away he run, the pig got loose and killed a goose, and Tom got put in the calaboose.
March 30th, 2012 at 2:58 pm
My grandfather Tom from Leitrim bounced me on his knee and said:
“John, john the piper’s son
stole a pig and away he run
up the hill and down the dale
and back into the barn again.
Then he’d ask me what the rhyme meant. I told him “don’t steal pigs?”
Then we’d both laugh uncontrollably like good Irishmen.
May 5th, 2019 at 4:21 am
My grandpa always sang this to me:
John, John, the piper’s son
Stole a pig and away he run
John was feet and the pig was meat
as John went scurryin’ down the street
October 21st, 2021 at 6:42 pm
i heard it as tom tom the pipers son
stole a pig and away he run
the only thing that he could say
was over the hill and far away
January 28th, 2025 at 8:48 pm
My little brothers name was John and our dad was a barber.
So I always sang it this way
John, John the barber’s son,
Stole a pig and the way he run.
And I don’t remember the rest.