148. Though played in Great Britain, the game is not (so far as
we know) mentioned by writers.--_French_, Celnart, p. 375
f., "Les Osselets."--_Spanish_, Marin, pp. 80-95, 150-159,
"Juego de las Chinas," "Game of the Stones."--_German_,
Meier, p. 145.--_Japanese_, Tedama, "Hand-balls."
149. Rhymes for counting out are used throughout Europe, and
examples could be cited of types corresponding to most
of the English forms, and sometimes evidently related.
Peculiar is the usage in Spain, where the syllables are told
off alternately on the closed hands of a player, who holds
a pebble; if the last syllable falls on the hand containing
the stone, the lad proving his fortune is free, and so on
until only one child remains. The custom has given a proverb
to the language. Marin, i. 117. A like usage (without the
rhymes) we have found to be the usual way of selection in a
town of Pennsylvania (Bethlehem).
150. First printed in Ritson's "Gammer Gurton's Garland."
Other original versions: (1) Gent.'s Mag., Sept. 1823;
(2), (3) The Critic, Jan. 15, 1857, and (4) Feb. 2, 1857.
The last mentioned is nearly identical with our B. The
communicator of (1) refers it, through an aged informant,
to a lady born in the reign of Charles II.; it has several
more verses than the last, generally agreeing with our E,
but lacks the ending. The rhyme, in England, appears at
present to be known as a song only. The European rhyme is
properly a dialogue, the verses being sung alternately by
the warders and the approaching party; the former, whose
joined and lowered arms represent the fallen bridge, do
not elevate them until the negotiations are concluded.
The game is, no doubt, that mentioned under the name of
"Coda Romana," by G. Villani, Istorie Fiorent., A.D.
1328, ch. xcvi., as played by the boys of Florence, in
which the question put to the imprisoned player is said
to have been, "Guelf or Ghibelline?"--_German_, Meier, p.
101 (cited), etc. Mannhardt in Zeitschr. f. d. Myth., iv.
301-320, gives twenty-seven versions, including _Slavic_,
_Hungarian_, _Scandinavian_.--_Swedish_, Arwiddson, iii.
250.--_French_, Chabreul, p. 117, "Le Ciel et l'Enfer."
Celnart, p. 52, 'Le Pontlevis.'--_Italian_, Bernoni, p. 46,
"Le Porte." Corazzini, pp. 90-93; p. 87 (a mixed form with
No. 154).--_Spanish_, A. de Ledesma, A.D. 1605, beginning
"Fallen is the bridge." See Marin, i. 166-168.--For the
English rhyme, see also N. and Q., 1st Ser. II. p. 338.
The name "Lady Lee" in the song may imply a legend. We read in
Nature, June 15, 1871, p. 118: "It is not, for example, many
years since the present Lord Leigh was accused of having
built an obnoxious person--one account, if we remember
right, said eight obnoxious persons--into the foundation of
a bridge at Stoneleigh." The communicator of version (2)
(The Critic, Jan. 15, 1857) spelt the name _Leigh_, and took
"the Lady Leigh of the song to be the wife of Sir Thomas
Leigh, who was Lord Mayor of London in 1558, ... ancestor
of the noble family of Leigh of Stoneleigh, Warwickshire."
Compare the ballad of "The Bridge of Arta," Passow, Pop.
Carmina Græciæ Recent., No. 511; Tommaseo, Cant. Pop.
Toscani, iii. 174 f.; F. Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde, 1879, p.
284.
151. A variation of No. 150.--_Italian_, Corazzini, pp. 91-93,
beginning, "Open, open the gates." Gianandrea, No. 3, "Le
Porte del Paradiso." The dialogue ends, "Let the King of
France with all his soldiers pass."
152. _Italian_, Bernoni, p. 54.--_French_, Ch. du Camb. i.
133.--_German_, Vernaleken, p. 55.
153. _German_, Meier, p, 117, "Farben aufgeben," etc.--_Italian_,
Bernoni, p. 51, "I colori." This version is identical with
the German and our A, as is also the _Spanish_ (or Catalan),
Maspons y Labrós, p. 91. The game of "Los Colores" is
mentioned by A. de Ledesma, A.D. 1605.--_French_, Belèze, p.
40 (cited).
Intermediate between this number and the following are games of
_selling birds_, Frischbier, p. 184; of _catching birds_,
Rochholz, p. 449.
Greek game of the shell, #Ostrakinda#, Pollux, ix. 111.
154. The following is our classification of the numerous games
(not before noticed as connected) belonging to this cycle of
childish tradition:
(1.) Versions preserving the original idea of the child-stealing
witch (as in our A, B, and C).--Halliwell, Pop. Rh., p.
131 (cited).--_German_, Meier, p. 117 (cited).--_Italian_,
Corazzini, p. 110, a fragment.
(2.) Versions in which (as in our D) the mother is represented
as present, and the game becomes one of _begging_ instead
of _stealing_ children. This is the case in most _German_
versions. The tests described in No. 152 are introduced
and become the leading feature of the game.--_German_,
Frischbier, p. 183. Rochholz, p. 436, and p. 444, where
the mother is called "Maria, mother of God," and the game
"Getting Angels." Mullenhoff, p. 486, No. 7.--_Swedish_,
Arwiddson, iii. p. 437 (cited). Mannhardt, Germanische
Mythologie, pp. 273-321, gives fourteen versions, with
a long discussion of this game, and concludes (p. 297)
that the last girl of the row (who in our A is the eldest
daughter, but here represents the "Mother Rose") "personates
the goddess Freya cherishing in or behind the clouds the
souls of the dead, who, renewed through the heavenly waters
(the fountain of youth), are destined to return to earth at
new birth as the souls of children!"
It is very curious to observe that several Prussian versions
contain traits only explained by the American games, the
form of which they thus imply as more original. Thus the
mother is _invited to a meal_ by the witch, Frischbier, p.
182, and the person invited sends _excuses_ (see our A).
(3.) The mother and children are represented in childish fashion
as a hen and her brood (see our B, and No. 101). Hence the
game of the "Rich and Poor Birds;" see references in No. 8,
note.--_Italian_, Corazzini, pp. 86-88. Gianandrea, No. 19,
"Madonna Pollinara."
(4.) The children are denoted by the names of leaves or
flowers.--_German_, Vernaleken, p. 58, "Die Grossmutter."
The visitor begs for a leaf as balsam to heal her injury,
and the girls are gathered under the name of leaves. So
Frischbier, p. 181. Feifalik, No. 81.--_Spanish_, Maspons y
Labrós, pp. 87-89, game of "Pulling Leeks."
(5.) The game has become a representation of selling
pottery.--_German_, Frischbier, p. 183. Mannhardt, p.
284.--_Swedish_, Arwiddson, iii. 169, "Selling Pots,"
a dance, has become a mere mercenary transaction.--The
English game of "Honey-pots" is a version of this,
where the weighing feature is to be explained as in No.
152.--_Italian_, Bernoni, p. 57, "I Piteri," where the
original idea reappears. The purchaser advances _limping_ (a
characteristic of witches), and the game is one of stealing
and recovery (like our London version E).--_Italian_,
Gianandrea, No. 19. The first part of the game is played
as in (3). The "pots" are weighed, as in the English game
mentioned. Ferraro, G. Monfer., No. 43, where the purchaser
is the devil, and the game thus passes over into the form of
No. 153.--_Spanish_, Maspons y Labrós, p. 87, "Las Gerras."
(6.) A game of stealing or measuring cloth.--_German_, Rochholz,
p. 437, "Tuch anmessen." In this game, mentioned by the
mother of Goethe (Düntzer, Frauenbilder aus Goethe's
Jugendzeit, p. 506), the children are arranged against the
wall to represent cloth, which the dealer measures and
names by the color of the stockings of the children. A
thief steals the cloth bit by bit, which the dealer must
recover by guessing the color, a task of some difficulty,
the stockings having been taken off in the interval. A
very curious Low-German version, Brem. Wiegenlieder, p. 61,
removes any doubt as to the relation of the amusement to
the original game. In this version the colored cloths are
only names for children. There are verbal coincidences with
forms given in the text, the dialogue beginning "Mother,
the broth is boiling over!" (as in our version B), put (as
in our version C) into the mouth of the watcher left in
charge by the absent mother; so Aus dem Kinderleben, p.
39, "Leinendieb." The remainder of the first paragraph of
C will be found almost word for word in Handelmann, p. 57,
No. 80, "Frau Rosen," a version of the form (2).--_Italian_,
Bernoni, p. 55, "I Brazzi de Tela," "the measures of cloth."
The thief advances _limping_, the owner having departed,
steals the cloth, but is pursued, and the goods recovered,
as in the game of pots described above. Ferraro, G. Monfer.,
No. 3.--_French_, Celnart, p. 43, "La Toile," has become a
kissing romp of grown people.
(7.) Finally, to the same root belong various rounds and dances
which represent a mother who wishes to marry her many
daughters, or of a poor widow who has but one daughter; see
our No. 8, and note.