principal incidents of what must have been the original form of the
game, and the fact of the Gloucestershire version having come down with
only two of the incidents, namely, the two most common to all the
variants (12 and 14), shows that the game has been in a state of
decadence. The four principal incidents, Nos. 1, 4, 12, and 14, point
distinctly to some water ceremonial; and if it may be argued that the
incidents which occur in only one or two of the variants may be
considered to have belonged to the original type, we shall be able to
suggest that this game presents a dramatic representation of ancient
well-worship. The incidents which occur in one version only are those
given by Mr. Halliwell, and unfortunately the locality from which he
obtained this variant is unknown. Still it is an earlier version than
those which are now printed for the first time, and may without doubt be
looked upon as genuine. Taking all the incidents of the various versions
as the means by which to restore the earliest version, it would appear
that this might have consisted of the following lines:--
Draw a pail of water
For a lady's daughter;
Her father's a king, her mother's a queen,
Her two little sisters are dressed in green,
Stamping grass and parsley, marigold leaves and daisies;
Sift the lady's oatmeal, sift it into flour,
Put it in a chestnut tree, let it lie an hour;
Give a silver pin and a gold ring,
One and a hush! two and a rush!
Pray, young lady, pop under a bush;
My bush is too high, my bush is too low,
Please, young lady, come under my bow!
(_d_) This restoration of the words, though it probably is far from
complete, and does not make so good a game rhyme as the reduced
versions, nevertheless shows clearly enough that the incidents belong to
a ceremonial of primitive well-worship. The pulling of the hands
backwards and forwards may be taken to indicate the raising of water
from a well. If this is conceded, the incidents might be grouped as
follows:--
(1.) Drawing of water from a well.
(2.) For a devotee at the well.
(3.) Collecting flowers for dressing the well.
(4.) Making of a cake for presentation.
(5.) Gifts to the well [the silver pin, gold ring, and probably the
garter].
(6.) Command of silence.
(7.) The presence of the devotee at the sacred bush.
All these are incidents of primitive well-worship (see Gomme's
_Ethnology and Folk-lore_, pp. 82-103). Garland dressing is very
general; cakes were eaten at Rorrington well, Shropshire (Burne's
_Shropshire Folk-lore_, p. 433); pins and portions of the dress are very
general offerings; silence is strictly enforced in many instances, and a
sacred tree or bush is very frequently found near the well.
The tune of the Hampshire game (Miss Mendham's version) is practically
the same as that of the "Mulberry Bush."
Newell (_Games of American Children_, p. 90) gives a version of this
game.
Drawing Dun out of the Mire
Brand, quoting from "an old collection of satires, epigrams, &c.," says
this game is enumerated among other pastimes:
At shove-groat, venter-point, or crosse and pile,
At leaping o'er a Midsummer bone-fier,
Or at _the drawing Dun out of the myer_.
So in the _Dutchesse of Suffolke_, 1631:
Well done, my masters, lends your hands,
_Draw Dun out of the ditch_,
Draw, pull, helpe all, so, so, well done.
[_They pull him out._]
They had shoved Bishop Bonner into a well, and were pulling him out.
We find this game noticed at least as early as Chaucer's time, in the
_Manciple's Prologue_:
Then gan our hoste to jape and to play,
And sayd, sires, what? _Dun is in the mire._
Nares (_Glossary_) says this game was a rural pastime, in which _Dun_
meant a dun horse, supposed to be stuck in the mire, and sometimes
represented by one of the persons who played.
Gifford (_Ben Jonson_, vol. vii. p. 283), who remembered having played
at the game (doubtless in his native county, Devonshire), thus describes
it:--"A log of wood is brought into the midst of the room: this is Dun
(the cart horse), and a cry is raised that he is stuck in the mire. Two
of the company advance, either with or without ropes, to draw him out.
After repeated attempts they find themselves unable to do it, and call
for more assistance. The game continues till all the company take part
in it, when Dun is extricated of course; and the merriment arises from
the awkward and affected efforts of the rustics to lift the log, and
sundry arch contrivances to let the ends of it fall on one another's
toes."
Drop Handkerchief
This is a game similar to Cat and Mouse, but takes its name from the use
of the handkerchief to start the pursuit. Various rhyming formulæ are
used in some places. In Monton, Lancashire (Miss Dendy), no rhyme is
used.
The children stand in a ring. One runs round with a handkerchief and
drops it; the child behind whom it is dropped chases the dropper, the
one who gets home first takes the vacant place, the other drops the
handkerchief again.
In Shropshire the two players pursue one another in and out of the ring,
running under the uplifted hands of the players who compose it: the
pursuer carefully keeping on the track of the pursued (Burne's
_Shropshire Folk-lore_, p. 512).
The Dorsetshire variant is accompanied by a rhyme:
I wrote a letter to my love;
I carried water in my glove;
And by the way I dropped it--
I dropped it, I dropped it, I dropped it, &c.
This is repeated until the handkerchief is stealthily dropped
immediately behind one of the players, who should be on the alert to
follow as quickly as possible the one who has dropped it, who at once
increases her speed and endeavours to take the place left vacant by her
pursuer. Should she be caught before she can succeed in doing this she
is compelled to take the handkerchief a second time. But if, as it
more usually happens, she is successful in accomplishing this, the
pursuer in turn takes the handkerchief, and the game proceeds as
before.--Symondsbury (_Folk-lore Journal_, vi. 212).
Jack lost his supper last night,
And the night before; if he does again to-night,
He never will no more--more--more--more.
I wrote a letter to my love,
And on the way I dropt it;
Some of you have picked it up,
And got it in your pocket--pocket--pocket--pocket.
I have a little dog, it won't bite you--
It won't bite you--it won't bite you--
It _will_ bite you.
--Leicestershire (Miss Ellis).
The Forest of Dean version is the same as the Dorsetshire, except that
the child who is unsuccessful in gaining the vacant place has to stand
in the middle of the ring until the same thing happens to another
child.--Miss Matthews.
In Nottinghamshire the children form in a ring; one walks round outside
the ring singing and carrying a handkerchief:
I wrote a letter to my love, and on the way I dropt it;
One of you has picked it up and put it in your pocket.
It isn't you, it isn't you, &c. &c.; it is you.
The handkerchief is then dropped at some one's back, the one at whose
back the handkerchief was dropped chasing the other.
Or they say:
I lost my supper last night, I lost it the night before,
And if I lose it again to-night, I'll knock at somebody's door.
It isn't you, it isn't you, &c. &c.; it's you.
--Miss Winfield.
At Winterton and Lincoln the children form a circle, standing
arms-length apart. A child holding a handkerchief occupies the centre of
the ring and sings:
Wiskit-a-waskit,
A green leather basket;
I wrote a letter to my love,
And on the way I lost it;
Some of you have picked it up,
And put it in your pocket.
I have a little dog at home,
And it shan't bite you,
(Here the singer points to each child in turn)
Nor you, nor you, nor you;
But it shall bite _you_.
Then she drops the handkerchief before her chosen playmate, who chases
her in and out of the ring under the arms of the other children until
she is captured. The captor afterwards takes the place in the centre,
and the original singer becomes a member of the circle.--Miss M.
Peacock.
The Deptford version of the verse is as follows:--
I had a little dog whose name was Buff,
I sent him up the street for a penny'orth of snuff,
He broke my box and spilt my snuff,
I think my story is long enough--
'Tain't you, and 'tain't you, and 'tis you!
--Deptford, Kent (Miss Chase).
A Staffordshire and Sharleston version gives some altogether different
formulæ:--
What colour's the sky?
Blue.
Look up again.
Like a W.
Follow me through every little hole that I go through.
--Staffordshire (Rev. G. T. Royds, Rector of Haughton).
At Sharleston the centre child says, "What colour is t' sky?" The other
answers, "Blue." Centre child says, "Follow me true." Here the centre
child runs in and out between the others until the one who was touched
catches her, when they change places, the first joining the children in
the ring.--Sharleston (Miss Fowler).
At Beddgelert, Wales (Mrs. Williams), this game is called Tartan Boeth.
It is played in precisely the same manner as the English game, but the
words used are:
Tartan Boeth, Oh ma'en llosgi, Boeth iawn
Hot Tart. Oh, it burns! very hot!
At the words, "Very hot!" the handkerchief is dropped.
(_b_) In this game no kissing takes place, and that this is no mere
accidental omission may be shown by Mr. Udal's description of the
Dorsetshire game. He was assured by several persons who are interested
in Dorset Children's Games that the indiscriminate kissing (that is,
whether the girl pursued runs little or far, or, when overtaken, whether
she objects or not) with which this game is ordinarily associated, as
played now both in Dorset and in other counties, was not indigenous to
this county, but was merely a pernicious after-growth or outcome of
later days, which had its origin in the various excursion and holiday
fêtes, which the facilities of railway travelling had instituted, by
bringing large crowds from the neighbouring towns into the country. He
was told that thirty years ago such a thing was unknown in the country
districts of Dorset, when the game then usually indulged in was known
merely as "Drop the Handkerchief" (_Folk-lore Journal_, vii. 212).
In other cases the rhymes are used for a purely kissing game, for which
see "Kiss in the Ring."
Dropping the Letter
An undescribed Suffolk boys' game.--Moor's _Suffolk Words_, p. 238.
Duck under the Water
Each child chooses a partner, and form in couples standing one before
the other, till a long line is formed. Each couple holds a handkerchief
as high as they can to form an arch. The couple standing at the end of
the line run through the arch just beyond the last couple standing at
the top, when they stand still and hold their handkerchief as high as
possible, which is the beginning of the second arch; this is repeated by
every last couple in succession, so that as many arches as are wanted
can be formed.--East Kirkby, Lincolnshire (Miss K. Maughan).
Miss Baker (_Northamptonshire Glossary_) says the game is played in that
county. Formerly in the northern part of the county even married women
on May Day played at it under the May garland, which was extended from
chimney to chimney across the village street.
Duck at the Table
A boys' game, played with round stones and a table-shaped block of
stone.--Patterson's _Antrim and Down Glossary_.
Probably the same as Duckstone.
Duck Dance
[Music]
--London (A. B. Gomme).
I saw a ship a sailin',
A sailin' on the sea,
And oh, it was laden
With pretty things for me [thee].
There were comfits in the cabin,
And apples in the hold;
The sails were made of silk,
And the masts were made of gold.
Four and twenty sailors
That sat upon the deck,
Were four and twenty white mice
With chains about their necks.
The captain was a duck,
With a packet on his back;
And when the ship began to move,
The captain cried "Quack! quack!"
--Northamptonshire, _Revue Celtique_, iv. 200; Halliwell's _Nursery
Rhymes_, No. ccclxxvii.
(_b_) A number of little girls join hands and form a ring. They all jump
round and sing the verses. The game ends by the girls following one of
their number in a string, all quacking like ducks.--Northamptonshire.
(_c_) Halliwell does not include it among his games, but simply as a
nursery paradox. The tune given is that to which I as a child was taught
to sing the verses as a song. We did not know it as a game. The "Quack,
quack!" was repeated as another line to the notes of the last bar given,
the notes gradually dying away (A. B. Gomme).
Duck Friar
The game of "Leap-frog."--_Apollo Shroving_, 1627, p. 83.
Ducks and Drakes
A pastime in which flat stones or slates are thrown upon the surface of
a piece of water, so that they may dip and emerge several times without
sinking (Brockett's _North Country Words_). "Neither cross and pile nor
ducks and drakes are quite so ancient as hand dandy" (Arbuthnot and
Pope, quoted in Todd's _Johnson_).
Halliwell gives the words used in the game both formerly and at the
present day. If the stone emerges only once it is a duck, and increasing
in the following order:--
2. A duck and a drake,
3. And a halfpenny cake,
4. And a penny to pay the old baker,
5. A hop and a scotch is another notch,
6. Slitherum, slatherum, take her.
--Halliwell's _Dictionary_.
Hen-pen,
Duck and mallard,
Amen.
--Somersetshire (Holloway's _Dict. of Provincialisms_).
A duck and a drake
And a white penny cake.
--Hampshire (Holloway's _Dict. of Provincialisms_).
A duck and a drake
And a penny white cake,
And a skew ball.
--Peacock's _Manley and Corringham Glossary_.
Moor (_Suffolk Words and Phrases_) gives the names for the number of
times the stone emerges, as (1) "a duck;" (2) "a duck an' a drake;" if
thrice, "a duck an' a drake an' a fi'epenny cake;" four times is "a duck
an' a drake an' a fi'epenny cake, an' a penny to pah the baker." If more
than four, "a duck," "a duck an' a drake," &c., are added. These
distinctions are iterated quickly to correspond in time as nearly as may
be with the dips of the stone. A flattish stone is evidently the best
for this sport.
(_b_) This game is also given by Mr. Addy in his _Sheffield Glossary_,
and by Holland (_Cheshire Glossary_), Brogden (_Provincial Words,
Lincolnshire_), Lowsley (_Berkshire Glossary_), Nares' _Glossary_, and
Baker's _Northants Glossary_. Miss Courtenay gives "Scutter" and "Tic
Tac Mollard" as Cornish names for the game (_West Cornwall Glossary_).
See also Halliwell's _Nursery Rhymes_, p. 139, and Strutt's _Sports and
Pastimes_, p. 326.
Butler, in his _Hudibras_ (p. ii. canto iii. l. 302), makes it one of
the important qualifications of his conjurer to tell--
What figur'd slates are best to make
On wat'ry surface _duck_ or _drake_.
The following description of this sport is given by Minucius Felix, ed.
1712, p. 28, which evinces its high antiquity: "Pueros videmus certatim
gestientes, testarum in mare jaculationibus ludere. Is lusus est, testam
teretem, jactatione fluctuum lævigatam, legere de litore: eam testam
plano situ digitis comprehensam, inclinem ipsum atque humilem, quantum
potest, super undas irrorare: ut illud jaculum vel dorsum maris raderet,
vel enataret, dum leni impetu labitur; vel summis fluctibus tonsis
emicaret, emergeret, dum assiduo saltu sublevatur. Is se in pueris
victorem ferebat, cujus testa et procurreret longius, et frequentius
exsiliret."
"From this pastime," says Moor, "has probably arisen the application of
the term to a spendthrift--of whose approaching ruin we should thus
speak: 'Ah, he'ave made fine ducks and drakes of a's money, that a'
have.'"--_Suffolk Words._
Duckstone
A large stone called the Duckstone or Duck-table is placed on the
ground, generally with a wall for a background, but this is of little
consequence. Several boys take a stone each, and a place pretty near the
Duckstone is chosen for "home." One of the boys puts his stone on the
Duckstone, and he is called the Tenter. He has to guard the home and
catch the other boys if he can. Each boy in turn throws his stone at the
stone on the Duck-table and immediately runs home. The Tenter tries to
catch him before he can touch the wall or post or whatever is chosen for
the home. If the Tenter can catch him he becomes Tenter, and puts his
stone on the Duckstone, and the original Tenter takes his turn in
throwing. One rule of the game is that the Tenter's stone must always be
on the Duck-table when he is trying to catch a boy, so if it is knocked
off it must be replaced before he can try to catch the boy running
"home." The chance of getting home is increased for the boy who knocks
it off.--North-West Lincolnshire (Rev. ---- Roberts and Miss Peacock).
(_b_) Similar versions are from Earls Heaton (Herbert Hardy), Ireland
(_Folk-lore Journal_, ii. 265), Peacock (_Mauley and Corringham
Glossary_). Addy (_Sheffield Glossary_) gives this game with the
following addition: If a duck falls short of the Duckstone, and the one
whose duck is on the stone sees that he can _wand_ or _span_ with his
hand the distance between the duck thus thrown and the Duckstone, he
shouts out "Wands," and if he can wand or span the distance he takes his
duck off, and the duck thus thrown is put on. Holland (_Cheshire
Glossary_), Darlington (South Cheshire), Baker (_Northants Glossary_),
and Brogden (_Provincial Words, Lincolnshire_), also give this game.
Elworthy (_West Somerset Words_) calls it "Duck," and "Ducks off" and
"Cobbs off" in Dorsetshire. In London the boy repeats the words, "Gully,
gully, all round the hole, one duck on," while he is playing (_Strand
Magazine_, November 1891). Newell (_Games_, p. 188) calls it "Duck on a
Rock."
Duffan Ring
Name for "Cat and Mouse" in Cornwall.--_Folk-lore Journal_, v. 57.
Dumb Crambo
An undescribed game mentioned in Moor's _Suffolk Words_, p. 238.
Dumb Motions
Two sides are chosen, which stand apart from each other inside the line
of their den. One side chooses a trade, and goes to the opposite side
imitating working at the trade and giving the initial letters of it. If
the opposite side guesses the name of the trade, the players run to
their own den, being chased by their opponents. If any of the players
are caught they must go to the opposite side. In turn the opposite side
chooses a trade, and imitates the actions practised.--Cork, Ireland
(Miss Keane).
This is called "An Old Woman from the Wood" in Dorsetshire. The children
form themselves into two ranks.
The first rank says:
Here comes an old 'oman from the wood.
The second party answers:
What cans't thee do?
First Party: Do anythin'.
Second Party: Work away.
This the children proceed to do, some by pretending to sew, some to
wash, some to dig, some to knit, without any instruments to do it with.
If the opposite side guess what they are doing, they change sides. This
game, Miss Summers believes, is very old, and has been played by several
generations in the village of Hazelbury Bryan.--Dorsetshire (_Folk-lore
Journal_, vii. 230).
See "Trades."
Dump
A boys' amusement in Yorkshire, in vogue about half a century ago, but
now believed to be nearly obsolete. It is played in this manner. The
lads crowd round and place their fists endways, the one on the other,
till they form a high pile of hands. Then a boy, who has one hand free,
knocks the piled fists off one by one, saying to every boy as he strikes
his fist away, "What's there, Dump?" He continues this process till he
comes to the last fist, when he exclaims:--
What's there?
Cheese and bread, and a mouldy halfpenny!
Where's my share?
I put it on the shelf, and the cat got it.
Where's the cat?
She's run nine miles through the wood.
Where's the wood?
T' fire burnt it.
Where's the fire?
T' waters sleekt (extinguished) it.
Where's the water?
T' oxen drank it.
Where's the oxen?
T' butcher killed 'em.
Where's the butcher?
Upon the church tops cracking nuts, and you may go and eat the
shells; and them as speaks first shall have nine nips,
nine scratches, and nine boxes over the lug!
Every one then endeavours to refrain from speaking in spite of mutual
nudges and grimaces, and he who first allows a word to escape is
punished by the others in the various methods adopted by schoolboys. In
some places the game is played differently. The children pile their
fists in the manner described above; then one, or sometimes all of them,
sing:
I've built my house, I've built my wall;
I don't care where my chimneys fall!
The merriment consists in the bustle and confusion occasioned by the
rapid withdrawal of the hands (Halliwell's _Nursery Rhymes_, p. 225).
Compare Burne's _Shropshire Folk-lore_, p. 529.
Northall (_Folk Rhymes_, p. 418) gives the following rhymes as said in
Warwickshire while the fists are being piled on one another:--
Here's one hammer on the block,
My men, my men;
There's one hammer, &c., my man John.
Dibble the can, blow bellows, blow,
Fire away, lads, for an hour or so.
See "Dish-a-loof," "Sacks."
Dumps
A game at marbles or taw, played with holes scooped in the ground
(Roxburgh, Jamieson). Grose gives _dump_ as signifying "a deep hole of
water" (_Provincial Glossary_).
Dust-point
A game in which boys placed their points in a heap, and threw at them
with a stone. Weber and Nares give wrong explanations. It is alluded to
in Cotton's Works, 1734, p. 184.
I'll venter on their heads my brindled cow,
With any boy at dust-point they shall play.
--Peacham's _Thalia's Banquet_, 1620.
Nares (_Glossary_) suggests that this game and blow-point resembled the
game of Push-pin. See also Halliwell's _Dictionary_.
Eller Tree
A number of young men and women stand in a line, a tall girl at one end
of the line representing the tree. They then begin to wrap round her,
saying, "The old eller tree grows thicker and thicker." When they have
all got round her (the tree), they jump all together, calling out, "A
bunch of rags, a bunch of rags," and try to tread on each other's
toes.--Sheffield, Yorks (S. O. Addy).
(_b_) The tree is the alder. It abounds in the North of England more
than in any other part of the kingdom, and seems always to have been
there held in great respect and veneration. Many superstitions also
attach to the tree. It is possible from these circumstances that the
game descends from an old custom of encircling the tree as an act of
worship, and the allusion to the "rags" bears at least a curious
relationship to tree worship. If this conclusion is correct, the
particular form of the game preserved by Mr. Addy may be the parent form
of all games in which the act of winding is indicated. There is more
reason for this when we consider how easy the notion of clock-winding
would creep in after the old veneration for the sacred alder tree had
ceased to exist.
[Illustration]
See "Bulliheisle," "Wind up the Bush Faggot," "Wind up the Watch."
Ezzeka
Old Ezzeka did one day stand
Upon a barrel top;
The bung flew out, and all at once
It went off with a pop.
--Dronfield (S. O. Addy).
This game is usually played in a house or schoolroom, by boys and girls.
A boy or girl is chosen who is considered to be able to stand a joke. He
sits on a chair. A stool is put behind, upon which a boy called "Ezzeka"
stands. Then the other boys and girls in the room sing the lines. As
they are finished, Ezzeka, who has a bottle of water in his hand, takes
out the cork, and pours the water upon his victim's head. This game may
be compared with the game of "King Arthur" mentioned by Brand (_Pop.
Antiq._, ii. 393).
Father's Fiddle
This is a boys' game. One boy says to another, "Divv (do) ye ken (know)
aboot my father's fiddle?" On replying that he does not, the questioner
takes hold of the other's right hand with his left, and stretches out
the arm. With his right hand he touches the arm gently above the elbow,
and says, "My father had a fiddle, an' he brook (broke) it here, an' he
brook it here" (touching it below the elbow), "an' he brook it throw the
middle," and comes down with a sharp stroke on the elbow-joint.--Keith,
Fochabers (Rev. W. Gregor).
This is probably the same game as that printed by Halliwell, No.
cccxxxv., to which the following rhyme applied:--
My father was a Frenchman,
He bought for me a fiddle;
He cut me here, he cut me here,
He cut me right in the middle.
Feed the Dove
An undescribed game mentioned in an old poem called _Christmas_ (i.
285), quoted in Ellis's Brand, i. 517: "Young men and maidens now at
'Feed the Dove' (with laurel leaf in mouth) play."
Find the Ring
O the grand old Duke of York
He had ten thousand men,
He marched them up the hill ago
And he marched them down again.
And when they were up they were up,
And when they were down they were down,
And when they were half-way up the hill
They were neither up nor down.
--Sheffield (S. O. Addy).