A pie sat on a pear tree,
A pie sat on a pear tree,
A pie sat on a pear tree,
Heigh ho! heigh ho! heigh ho!
These lines are sung by a person at the table after dinner. His next
neighbour then sings "Once so merrily hopped she," during which the
first singer is obliged to drink a bumper; and should he be unable to
empty his glass before the last line is sung, he must begin again till
he succeeds. The next line is "Twice so merrily hopped she," sung by the
next person under a similar arrangement, and so on; beginning again
after "Thrice so merrily hopped she, heigh ho! heigh ho! heigh ho!" till
the ceremony has been repeated around the table. It is to be hoped so
absurd a practice is not now in fashion.
When a boy finds anything, and another sees him stoop for it, if the
latter cries _halves_ before he has picked it up, he is, by schoolboy
law, entitled to half of it. This right may, however, be negatived, if
the finder cries out first—
Ricket, racket, find it, tack it,
And niver give it to the aunder.
Or, sometimes the following:
No halfers,
Findee, keepee;
Lossee, seekee.