e Wood you may read about here and in longer poems; for
instance, in a book called "The Ingoldsby Legends." It was their wicked
uncle who lost them in the wood, because he wanted their money. Uncles
were exceedingly bad long ago, and often smothered their nephews in the
Tower, or put out their eyes with red-hot irons. But now uncles are the
kindest people in the world, as every child knows.

About Brian O'Lin there is more than this book says:--

"Brian O'Lin had no breeches to wear;
He bought him a sheepskin to make him a pair,
The woolly side out, and the other side in:
'It's pleasant and cool,' says Brian O'Lin."

He is also called Tom o' the Lin, and seems to have been connected with
Young Tamlane, who was carried away by the Fairy Queen, and brought back
to earth by his true love. Little Jack Horner lived at a place called
Mells, in Somerset, in the time of Henry VIII. The plum he got was an
estate which had belonged to the priests. I find nobody else here about
whom history teaches us till we come to Dr. Faustus. He was _not_ "a
very good man"; that is a mistake, or the poem was written by a friend
of the Doctor's. In reality he was a wizard, and raised up Helen of Troy
from the other world, the most beautiful woman who ever was seen. Dr.
Faustus made an agreement with Bogie, who, after the Doctor had been gay
for a long time, came and carried him off in a flash of fire. You can
read about it all in several books, when you are a good deal older. Dr.
Faustus was a German, and the best play about him is by a German poet.

As to Tom the Piper's Son, he was probably the son of a Highlander, for
they were mostly on Charley's side, who was "Over the hills and far
away." Another song says--

"There was a wind, it came to me
Over the south and over the sea,
And it has blown my corn and hay
Over the hills and far away.
But though it left me bare indeed,
And blew my bonnet off my head,
There's something hid in Highland brae,
It has not blown my sword away.
Then o'er the hills and over the dales,
Over all England, and thro' Wales,
The broadsword yet shall bear the sway,
Over the hills and far away!"

Tom piped this tune, and pleased both the girls and boys.

About the two birds that sat on a stone, on the "All-Alone Stone," you
can read in a b