_GUESSING-GAMES._
"As boys, when they play at 'how many,' hold out their hands in such
a way that, having few, they pretend to have many, and having many,
they make believe to have few."--XENOPHON, _Treatise on the Duties of a
Cavalry Officer_.
No. 91.
_Odd or Even._
A small number of beans or other counters are held in the hand, and the
question is, Odd or Even? If the guess is even, and the true number
odd, it is said "Give me one to make it odd," and _vice versâ_. The
game is continued until all the counters belong to one or other of the
two players.
This amusement was familiar in ancient Greece and Rome, as it is in
modern Europe. In the classic game the player gained or lost as many as
he held in his hand.
No. 92.
_Hul Gul._
This game is played by three, four, or more, who stand in a circle. A
child then addresses his left-hand neighbor, and the dialogue is:
"Hul Gul."
"Hands full."
"Parcel how many?"
The second player then guesses the number, two guesses being sometimes
allowed. If, for example, the guess is five, and the real number seven,
the first responds, "Give me two to make it seven," and so on until
all the counters have been gained by one player. The number allowed to
be taken is often limited, by agreement, to six or ten.
The counters are beans, grains of corn, marbles, nuts, and, in the
South, _chinquapins_.[95]
A childish trick is to expand the hand as if unable to hold the number
of counters, when in fact they are but one or two. Oddly enough, this
same device is alluded to by Xenophon as in use in his day in the
game of "How many?"--the classic equivalent of our game, in which the
question was, "How many have I in the hand?" just as we say, "Parcel
how many?" So, in these sports, the interval of two thousand years
vanishes.
No. 93.
_How many Fingers?_
A child hides his head on another's lap, and guesses the number of
fingers raised. We find a rhyme for this given in the "Girls' Own Book."
"Mingledy, mingledy, clap, clap, clap,
How many fingers do I hold up?"
"Three."
"Three you said, and two it was," etc.
Another form of this game consists in schoolboys mounting on each
other's back and raising fingers, of which the number is to be guessed.
The English formula for this purpose is given by Tylor thus, "Buck,
buck, how many horns do I hold up?" We are not aware that the practice
continues to exist in this country.
In the famous finger-game of "Morra," the sum of the fingers raised
by the two players is counted. The game is played with such rapidity,
and the calling is so rapid, that conjecture plays a larger part in
the game than eyesight. "Morra" has been a favorite for nearly four
thousand years, for it is represented on early Egyptian monuments,
where the players are depicted as using the right hand, and scoring
with the left, very much as is done in the south of Europe at the
present day.
It is very likely, however, that the nursery usage we are now concerned
with is as old. Petronius Arbiter, in the time of Nero, describes
Trimalchio as so playing with a boy. The latter, mounting as on
horseback, smote his shoulders with the open hand, and laughing said,
"Bucca, bucca, how many?"[96]
We will not undertake to decide whether the reported coincidence of the
Latin and English formulas is a genuine example of transmission. The
game, however, and the question, "How many?" have certainly endured for
two thousand years, and very likely existed as long before the days of
Petronius, or from a time as remote as that to which can be traced the
more complicated game of "Morra."
No. 94.
_Right or Left._
A common way of deciding a dispute, selecting players, or determining
who shall begin a game, is to take a pebble or other object in the
closed fist, and make a comrade guess in which hand it is contained.
The old-fashioned way of holding the hands, both in England and
Germany, was to place one fist on top of the other; and a like usage
formerly prevailed in New England, though we have not met with the
English rhyme:
Handy-dandy riddledy ro,
Which will you have, high or low?
No. 95.
_Under which Finger?_
A child takes a bean in the hand, closes it, and asks a companion to
guess under which finger it lies; if the latter fails, he must pay a
bean.
No. 96.
_Comes, it Comes._
A simple guessing-game, familiar to children in New England. One
child of the party says to another, "It comes, it comes." The player
addressed replies, "What do you come by?" The first replies by naming
the initial letter of some object in the room; if, for instance, it is
the table he has in mind, he says, "I come by T." The rest must now
guess what thing, beginning with this letter, is meant.
No. 97.
_Hold Fast My Gold Ring._
The children sit in a circle, with hands closed; one takes the ring,
and goes around with it, tapping the closed fists of the players as if
inserting the ring, and saying:
Biddy, biddy, hold fast my gold ring,
Till I go to London, and come back again.
Each child, in turn, is then required to guess who has the ring, and,
if successful, takes the leader's place; if unsuccessful, he pays
forfeit.
_Georgia._
This is known in Massachusetts as,
Button, button, who's got the button?