Rich, poor, moderate?
The marguerite (_Doronicum bellidiastrum_) is asked in the same country:
Heaven, hell, purgatory, paradise?
And in Styria is called "Love's Measure," because it determines the
return of affection according to the well-known formula, "He loves me,
he loves me not," for which a French equivalent is:
Je t'aime, un peu, beaucoup,
Tendrement, pas du tout.
But in Switzerland again the questions for the marguerite exactly match
ours:
Nobleman, beggar-man, farmer, soldier, student,
Emperor, king, gentleman.
The verse is similar in Italy. It is curious to see the precise
correspondence of English and Continental forms.
Mediæval writers do not mention this use of flower-petals, but
frequently allude to the custom of drawing spires of grass, to secure
the longer (or shorter, as might be agreed). Thus lads might draw
grasses, for the purpose of deciding to which of the two a maiden
might belong as a partner. This was so usual a way of deciding a
controversy that it was even recognized in law, where the parties to
a suit drew straws from a thatch or sheaf. Children still resort to a
like arbitrament, where one holds the straws in the hand, and the other
draws, the shorter straw winning. To our surprise, we find that girls
in Massachusetts still keep up the mediæval usage; they draw stalks
of grass in the field, and match them, to decide who shall begin a
game--be "it."[84]
We have seen that the formula "Loves me, loves me not," was used in
the Middle Age with grasses. In Italy the oracle is consulted by means
of the branch of a tree. A twig is taken having alternate leaves, and
they are detached one by one, the consulter always turning the head
as the words of the oracle are spoken. The formulas for this purpose
closely resemble our own: thus, "This year, another year, soon, never,"
which is exactly identical with the English "This year, next year, some
time, never;" or, "He loves me, longs for me, desires me, wishes me
well; wishes me ill, does not care;" or, as in the Swiss form given,
"Paradise, Purgatory, _Caldron_" (that is, Inferno).
No. 43.
_Use of Flowers in Games._
Flowers are gathered and loved by children as they have always been,
and are used by them in all sorts of imaginative exercises of their own
invention, as, for instance, by girls in their imitative housekeeping;
but there is singularly little employment of them in any definite
games. Formerly it was otherwise; but the deep sympathy which blooming
youth once felt and expressed for the bloom of the year seems to have
almost disappeared.
In the Middle Age, as in classic antiquity, flowers were much in use
for dances. Great attention was paid to the significance of particular
blooms. "What flowers will you give me for a garland? What flowers
are proper for adornment?" are mentioned as names of sports. It was a
practice for the lover to approach his mistress with a flower or fruit
which he offered for her acceptance. If the girl accepted the gift, the
youth led her out, and the dance began. Another ancient practice was
to throw to a girl some bloom, at the same time pronouncing a couplet
which rhymed with the name of the flower. The ball, too, with which
youths and maids played, was sometimes made of flowers.
Almost the only relic of ancient usage of this sort, with us, is the
employment little girls make of dandelions, with which (in some parts
of the country) they make long garlands, cutting off the heads and
stringing them together.
This use of the dandelion is very old, from which it derives one of
its many German names, the _chain-flower_ or _ring-flower_. On account
of its early bloom and golden hue it is especially the flower of
spring, and seems to have had a religious and symbolic meaning. In
Switzerland these garlands are used in the dance, the children holding
a long wreath of the flowers so as to form a circle within the ring;
and whoever breaks the chain pays forfeit. The plant is said to be
of healing virtue, gives happiness to the lover, and, if plucked on
particular days, will heal troubles of the eye. It has these qualities
on account of its brightness, which causes it to be associated with the
victorious power of light.
There are other ways of using this flower. A dandelion in seed is held
to the lips; if the seeds can all be blown off in three attempts, it is
a sign of successful love, of marriage within the year; or, with little
girls, that "my mother wants me."
Little girls also split the stalks of the flower, and, dipping them in
cold water, produce "curls," with which they adorn themselves. This
usage, too, is German.
We may speak of the trifling lore of one or two other flowers. A
buttercup is held against one child's chin by another, and a bright
reflection is supposed (prosaically enough) to indicate a fondness for
butter!
It was formerly said in New England that the heart's-ease (_Viola
tricolor_) represented a "step-mother sitting on two chairs." The
petals being turned up, the step-mother is seen to have two chairs, her
children one each, and her step-children only one between them.
That this flower represents an unkind step-mother is stated in a
Low-German rhyme of the fifteenth century; and step-mother is also
an English name for the heart's-ease. There is another reason for
the title besides that we have given. In Switzerland the flower is
considered a type of malice, because the older the flower is the more
yellow and "jealous" it becomes. Thus we have another striking example
of the original similarity of English and German usage.
Boys in the spring are fond of blowing on the fresh blades of grass,
with which they can make a loud but harsh trumpeting. This practice, in
Germany, is mentioned at the beginning of the thirteenth century.
It is the custom still for boys to make whistles in the spring from
the loosened bark of the willow; but they do not guess that this was
originally a superstitious rite, the pipe cut from a tree which grows
in the water being supposed to have the power of causing rain. The
Swiss children, though unconsciously, still invoke the water-spirit as
they separate the bark from the wood:
Franz, Franz,
Lend me your pipe.
No. 44.
_Counting Apple-seeds._
The following rhyme, used in New England at the beginning of the
present century, remains unchanged in a single word, except the
omission of the last three lines.
Apples formerly were an essential part of every entertainment in the
country; in the winter season, a dish of such always stood on the
sideboard. As the hours went by, a foaming dish of eggnog would be
brought in, always with a red-hot poker inserted, for the purpose of
keeping up the proper temperature. It was then that the apple, having
been properly named, with a fillip of the finger was divided, to decide
the fate of the person concerned according to its number of seeds.
One, I love,
Two, I love,
Three, I love, I say,
Four, I love with all my heart,
And five, I cast away;
Six, he loves,
Seven, she loves,
Eight, they both love;
Nine, he comes,
Ten, he tarries,
Eleven, he courts,
Twelve, he marries;
Thirteen wishes,
Fourteen kisses,
All the rest little witches.
No. 45.
_Rose in the Garden._
We insert here, on account of the allusions to nature which they
contain, several pieces which might also have found a place elsewhere
in our collection; the present, for instance, being eminently a
"love-game."
A single player stands in the centre of the ring, which circles and
sings:
There's a rose in the garden for you, fair man,
There's a rose in the garden for you, fair maid;
There's a rose in the garden, pluck it if you can,
Be sure you don't choose a false-hearted one.
The youth or girl in the centre chooses a partner, and the ring sings:
It's a bargain, it's a bargain, for you, fair man,
It's a bargain, it's a bargain, for you, fair maid.
Now follows a fragment of romance, which in our version is unhappily
corrupt:
You promised to marry me six months ago,
I hold you to your bargain, "_you old rogue you_."
After a kiss, the first player takes his or her place in the ring, and
the partner selected is left to continue the game.
_Deerfield, Mass._ (about 1810).
To the same game, perhaps, belongs the following fragment:
Here stands a red rose in the ring--
Promised to marry a long time ago.
The comparison of a youth or maid to a rose is not uncommon in dances.
We have a pretty French example in the Canadian round cited below;[85]
and another English instance in our No. 62.
No. 46.
_There was a Tree Stood in the Ground._
[Illustration]
There was a tree stood in the ground,
The prettiest tree you ever did see;
The tree in the wood, and the wood in the ground;
And the green grass growing all round, round, round,
And the green grass growing all round.
And on this tree there was a limb,
The prettiest limb you ever did see;
The limb on the tree, and the tree in the wood,
The tree in the wood, and the wood in the ground,
And the green grass growing all round, round, round,
And the green grass growing all round.
And on this limb there was a bough,
The prettiest bough you ever did see;
The bough on the limb, and the limb on the tree, etc.
And on this bough there was a twig,
The prettiest twig you ever did see;
The twig on the bough, and the bough on the limb, etc.
And on this twig there was a nest,
The prettiest nest you ever did see;
The nest on the twig, and the twig on the bough, etc.
And in this nest there were some eggs,[86]
The prettiest eggs you ever did see;
The eggs in the nest, and the nest on the twig, etc.
And in the eggs there was a bird,
The prettiest bird you ever did see;
The bird in the eggs, and the eggs in the nest, etc.
And on the bird there was a wing,
The prettiest wing you ever did see;
The wing on the bird, and the bird in the eggs, etc.
And on the wing there was a feather,
The prettiest feather you ever did see;
The feather on the wing, and the wing on the bird, etc.
And on the feather there was some down,
The prettiest down you ever did see;
The down on the feather, and the feather on the wing,
The feather on the wing, and the wing on the bird,
The wing on the bird, and the bird in the eggs,
The bird in the eggs, and the eggs in the nest,
The eggs in the nest, and the nest on the twig,
The nest on the twig, and the twig on the bough,
The twig on the bough, and the bough on the limb,
The bough on the limb, and the limb on the tree,
The limb on the tree, and the tree in the wood,
The tree in the wood, and the wood in the ground,
And the green grass growing all round, round, round,
And the green grass growing all round.
_Savannah, Georgia._
This song is not known in the North, and it is equally unrecorded
in English nursery-lore, but is very familiar in France (as well as
Germany, Denmark, etc.). We are inclined to look on it as an adaptation
from the French, made by the children of _émigrés_, like the curious
game which makes our next number.[87]
No. 47.
_+Green!+_
In parts of Georgia and South Carolina, as soon as a group of girls
are fairly out of the house for a morning's play, one suddenly points
the finger at a companion with the exclamation, "Green!" The child so
accosted must then produce some fragment of verdure, the leaf of a
tree, a blade of grass, etc., from the apparel, or else pay forfeit to
the first after the manner of "philopoena." It is rarely, therefore,
that a child will go abroad without a bit of "green," the practice
almost amounting to a superstition. The object of each is to make the
rest believe that the required piece of verdure has been forgotten, and
yet to keep it at hand. Sometimes it is drawn from the shoe, or carried
in the brooch, or in the garter. Nurses find in the pockets, or in the
lining of garments, all manner of fragments which have served this
purpose. This curious practice is not known elsewhere in America; but
it is mentioned by Rabelais, under the name by which it is still played
in parts of Central France, "Je vous prends sans vert"--"I catch you
without green." The game, however, is not merely a children's sport,
and is played differently from our description. At Châtillon-sur-Inde
it is during Lent, and only after the singing of the _Angelus_, that
"green" is played. If any lady accost you and shows you her bough, you
must immediately exhibit yours. If you have not such a one, or if your
green is of a shade less rich than your adversary's, you lose a point;
in case of doubt, the matter is referred to an umpire. The game was
much in vogue from the thirteenth to the fourteenth century, and is
described as a May-game. "During the first days of May, every one took
care to carry on his person a little green bough, and those who were
not so provided were liable to hear themselves addressed, _I catch you
without green_, and to receive, at the same instant, a pail of water on
the head. This amusement, however, was in use only among the members
of certain societies, who took the name of _Sans-vert_. Those who
belonged to these had a right to visit each other at any hour of the
day, and administer the bath whenever they found each other unprovided.
In addition, the members so surprised were condemned to a pecuniary
fine, and the income of these fines was devoted to merry repasts
which, at certain seasons of the year, united all the comrades of the
_Sans-vert_."[88]
The practice has given to the French language a proverb: _to take any
one without green_, to take him unawares.
Our child's game was doubtless imported by Huguenot immigrants, who
established themselves in the states referred to two centuries since,
where they long preserved their language and customs, and from whom
many well-known families are descended.