"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."
There was a man named Brian O’Lin who lived in a village. He was notorious for being the clumsiest man out of all of the village people. Every day he would ruin a new pair of pants in one way or another. Just yesterday poor Brian O’Lin ruined his last pair of breeches by tripping over his own feet and falling into a large pile of horse droppings. Unable to get the stains or the smell out, Brian O’Lin had no more trousers to wear.
~~~
Brian O’Lin had no breeches to wear
After buying so many new pairs of pants in the past week, Brian O’Lin decided to try and save money by buying cloth in bulk to make his own pairs of pants. He wandered around the village in just his knickers searching for the perfect material to make his pants out of. He needed something durable, stylish, and functional. After getting shooed away by most of the villagers because of his revealing appearance, the only person who would sell him any material was an almost blind old sheep farmer. Having no other options, Brian O’Lin went ahead and bought a sheepskin.
~~~
He bought him a sheepskin to make him a pair
After returning home, Brian O’Lin tried his hand at sewing himself pants. Being so clumsy, it took a lot of time and multiple puncture wounds from his needle before he finally had a finished product that looked acceptable (even though it was slightly tinged red from his blood). He put the pants on, wool side in, and admired his handiwork. He was very happy with himself until he started walking around and realized how itchy and hot these pants were. The wool was irritating his skin! Flustered he took the pants off and turned them inside out to see how that felt. He did so, and remarked out loud that his pants were pleasant and cool to wear.
~~~
It's pleasant and cool,' says Brian O'Lin
He loved his pants so much, he went back to the sheep farmer and bought as much sheepskin as he could, and spent the rest of the day sewing himself even more breeches. Later that night, as he walked into town to meet a friend, he got caught in a rose bush, ripping his new pants. Brian O'Lin did not fret, for he had over twenty other pairs to change in to at home.
~~~
Author's Note: This story is based off of a traditional nursery rhyme written in The Nursery Rhyme Book, edited by Andrew Lang (1897). Because the rhyme is about a man in sheepskin breeches, I assumed it was from awhile back in the past in a village. From there I let my imagination take over and came up with a story on exactly why he was wearing sheepskin pants in the first place. Most of my inspiration came from being extremely clumsy myself.
Because there wasn't much of a story to go off of, the nursery rhyme was fairly short, I got to use my imagination to make up most of the story, which I love doing! I got to visualize my own village and figure out the map as I went along. My mom also sews, so I know how easy it can be to prick your finger while doing so, which is where I got the inspiration for the puncture wounds. Plus, if Brian O'Lin was that clumsy, it made sense to me that he would not only ruin his pants a lot, but also injure himself on accident. I know I definitely injure myself on accident all the time! Luckily I don't ruin as many pairs of pants as he does.
