string long enough to go round the inner circumference of the chairs is
procured. A small ring is put upon the string, the ends of which are
then tied. Then one of the players gets up from his chair and stands in
the centre. The players sitting on the chairs take the string into their
hands and pass the ring round from one to another, singing the lines. If
the person standing in the centre can find out in whose hand the ring
is, he sits down, and his place is taken by the one who had the ring.
The game is sometimes played round a haycock in the hayfield.
Miss Dendy sends a similar rhyme from Monton, Lancashire, where it is
known simply as a marching game. For similar rhymes, see Halliwell's
_Nursery Rhymes_, p. 3.
See "Paddy from Home," "Tip it."
Fippeny Morrell
"Twice three stones, set in a crossed square, where he wins the game
that can set his three along in a row, and that is fippeny morrell I
trow."--_Apollo Shroving_, 1626.
See "Nine Men's Morice," "Noughts and Crosses."
Fire, Air, and Water
The players seat themselves in a circle. One of the players has a ball,
to which a string is fastened. He holds the string that he may easily
draw the ball back again after it is thrown. The possessor of the ball
then throws it to one in the circle, calling out the name of either of
the elements he pleases. This player must, before ten can be counted,
give the name of an inhabitant of that element. When "Fire" is called,
strict silence must be observed or a forfeit paid.--Cork, Ireland (Miss
Keane).
The players were seated in a half-circle, and the possessor of the ball
faced the others. There was no string attached to the ball, but it was
necessary that it should hit the child it was thrown to. When "Fire" was
called, "Salamander" and "Ph[oe]nix" were allowed to be said. The third
time "Fire" was called, silence was observed, and every player bowed the
head. We called it "Earth, Air, Fire, and Water." A forfeit had to be
paid for every mistake.--London (A. B. Gomme).
It seems probable that a survival of fire-worship is shown by this game.
Fivestones
This game was played by a newspaper boy at Richmond Station for me as
follows:--He had five square pieces of tile or stone about the size of
dice. He took all five pieces in the palm of the hand first, then threw
them up and caught them on the back of the hand, and then from the back
of the hand into the palm. Four of the stones were then thrown on the
ground; the fifth was thrown up, one stone being picked up from the
ground, and the descending fifth stone caught in the same hand; the
other three pieces were next picked up in turn. Then two were picked up
together in the same manner twice, then one, then three, then all four
at once, the fifth stone being thrown up and caught with each movement.
All five were then thrown up and caught on the back of the hand, and
then thrown from the back and caught in the palm. When he dropped one,
he picked it up between his outstretched fingers while the other stones
remained on the back of the hand; then he tossed and caught it likewise.
Then after throwing up the five stones and catching them on the back of
the hand and the reverse, all five being kept in the palm, one was
thrown up, and another deposited on the ground before the descending
stone was caught. This was done to the three others in turn. Then with
two at a time twice, then one and three, then all four together, then
from the palm to the back of the hand, and again to the palm. This
completed one game. If mistakes were made another player took the
stones. Marks were taken for successful play. This boy called the game
"Dabs."--A. B. Gomme.
In South Notts this game was called "Snobs." It was played with small
stones or marbles. There were nine sets of tricks. First One-ers (of
which there were five in the set), then Two-ers (two in set), Three-ers
(three in set), Four-ers (four in set), Four Squares (four in set),
Trotting Donkeys (eight in set, I believe), Fly-catchers (six or seven
in set), Magic (five in set), and Magic Fly-catchers (five in set).
One-ers is played thus:--The five stones are thrown into the air and
caught on the back of the hand. If all are caught they are simply tossed
up again and caught in the hollow of the hand, but if any are not caught
they have to be picked up, one by one, another stone being at the same
time thrown into the air and caught with the one picked up in the hand.
Two-ers, Three-ers, and Four-ers, are played in the same way, except
that the stones not caught on the back of the hand have to be arranged
in twos, threes, and fours respectively by the hand on which the caught
stones are lying meanwhile, and then each lot has to be picked up
altogether. If the number that fall when the stones are first thrown up
won't allow of this, the player has to drop the required number (but no
more) from his hand. In Magic the play is just the same as in One-ers,
except that instead of only throwing up a single stone and catching it
as the others are in turn picked up, the whole number, except those
remaining to be picked up, are thrown and caught. In Four Squares, four
of the stones are arranged in a square, each of them is then picked up,
whilst the remaining stone is flung upwards and caught; the one picked
up is then tossed up, and the one originally tossed up is put down in
the place of the other, which is caught as it descends, and the process
repeated "all round the square." Trotting Donkeys is similarly played,
except that the four stones are arranged in a line--not in a square--and
I believe there is some other slight difference, but I forget what.
Fly-catchers is played like One-ers, except that the stone thrown into
the air while the others are being picked up, is not simply caught by
being allowed to fall into the hand, but by an outward movement of the
hand is _pounced on_, hawk-fashion, from above. Magic Fly-catchers is
played in precisely the same way, except that as in simple Magic, not
one stone, but all are thrown up and caught--that is, if there are four
on the ground one only is thrown up for the first, two for the second,
three for the third, and so on until they are all picked up. This is, of
course, the most difficult part of all, and, in fact, only experts were
expected to do it. Every failure means "out," and then your opponent has
his turn. The winner is the one who gets through first. Such is the game
as I remember it, but I have an uneasy suspicion that I have missed
something out. I seem to remember one trick in which all the stones on
the ground had to be picked up at once _where they lay_--scrambled up so
to speak. Or it may be (and, in fact, I think it was) that sometimes, to
add to the difficulty of the game, we picked up the groups of two,
three, and four in Two-ers, Three-ers, and Four-ers in this fashion,
instead of first placing them together.--Epworth, Doncaster (C. C.
Bell).
In Wakefield the set of pot checks, which represents five hucklebones,
now consists of four checks and a ball about the size of a large marble.
The checks are something like dice, but only two opposite sides are
plain, the other four being fluted. The table played on is generally a
doorstep, and it is made ready by drawing a ring upon it with anything
handy which will make a mark. There are twelve figures or movements to
be gone through as follows. Some have special names, but I do not learn
that all have.
1. The player, taking the checks and ball in the right hand, throws down
the checks, keeping the ball in the hand. If any check fall outside the
ring the player is "down." There is skill needed in the throwing of the
checks in this and the following movements, so that they may be
conveniently placed for taking up in the proper order. The checks being
scattered, the player throws up the ball, takes up one check, and
catches the ball as it comes down, or, as it is sometimes played, after
it has bounced once from the step. This is repeated till all the checks
are taken up.
2. As the last figure, but the checks are taken up two at a throw.
3. As the last, but at the first throw one check, called the Horse, is
taken up, and at the second the remaining three checks at once, called
the Cart.
4. As before, but all the checks taken up together.
5. Called Ups and Downs. The checks are taken up at one throw, and set
down outside the ring at the next. This is done first with one, then
with two, and so on.
6. Each check is touched in turn as the ball is thrown.
7. The checks are separately pushed out of the ring.
8. Each check in turn is taken up and knocked against the ground.
9. Each check is taken up and tapped upon another.
10. The checks are first arranged three in a line, touching each other,
and the fourth placed at the top of that at one end of the row. This is
called the Cradle. It has to be taken down check by check, and if, in
taking one, another is moved, the player is out.
11. Like the last, but the checks are put one above another to make a
Chimney.
12. Called the Dish-clout--I know not why, unless it be that it wipes
up the game. The movement used in taking up the checks is thus
described:--"Take hold of the sleeve of the right hand with the left;
throw up the ball, and twist your right hand underneath and over your
left, and catch the ball. With the hand still twisted throw up the ball
and untwist and catch it." The checks are picked up in the course of the
twisting.
These I am told are the orthodox movements; and I do not doubt that in
them there is much of very old tradition, although the tenth and
eleventh must have been either added or modified since pot checks came
into use, for the figures could not be built up with the natural bones.
Some other movements are sometimes used according to fancy, as for
example the clapping of the ground with the palm of the hand before
taking up the checks and catching the ball.--J. T. Micklethwaite (_Arch.
Journ._, xlix. 327-28).
I am told that in the iron districts of Staffordshire, the round bits of
iron punched out in making rivet holes in boiler plates are the modern
representatives of hucklebones.--_Ibid._
In Westminster four stones are held in the right hand, a marble is
thrown up, and all four stones thrown down, and the marble allowed to
bounce on the hearthstone or pavement, and then caught in the same hand
after it has rebounded. The marble is then thrown up again, and one of
the four stones picked up, and the marble caught again after it has
rebounded. This is done separately to the other three, bringing all four
stones into the hand. The marble is again bounced, and all four stones
thrown down and the marble caught. Two stones are then picked up
together, then the other two, then one, then three together, then all
four together, the marble being tossed and caught with each throw. An
arch is then formed by placing the left hand on the ground, and the four
stones are again thrown down, the marble tossed, and the four stones
put separately into the arch, the marble being caught after it has
rebounded each time; or the four stones are separately put between the
fingers of the left hand in as straight a row as possible. Then the left
hand is taken away, and the four stones caught up in one sweep of the
hand. Then all four stones are thrown down, and one is picked up before
the marble is caught. This is retained in the hand, and when the second
stone is picked up the first one is laid down before the marble is
caught; the third is picked up and the second laid down, the fourth
picked up and the third laid down, then the fourth laid down, the marble
being tossed and caught again each time. The stones have different names
or marks (which follow in rotation), and in picking them up they must be
taken in their proper order, or it is counted as a mistake. The game is
played throughout by the right hand, the left hand only being used when
"arches" is made. The marble should be thrown up about the same height
each toss, and there should be little or no interval between the
different figures.--Annie Dicker.
I saw this game played in Endell Street, London, W.C., by two girls.
Their game was not so long nor so complete as the above. They did not
throw all four stones down as a preliminary stage, but began with the
second figure, the four gobs being placed in a square ::, nor were
they particular as to which stones they picked up. They knew nothing of
numbering or naming them. Their marble was called a "jack." They had
places chalked on the pavement where they recorded their successful
"goes," and the game was played in a ring.--A. B. Gomme.
An account sent me from Deptford (Miss Chase) is doubtless the same
game. It begins with taking two "gobs" at once, and apparently there are
eight stones or gobs to play with. The marble or round stone which is
thrown up is called a "tally." The directions for playing are--
We take twoses,
We take threeses,
We take fourses,
We take sixes,
We take eights.
Chain eggs--_i.e._, to pick up one and drop it again until this has been
done to each stone. Arches--_i.e._, gobs in a row. This was described by
the player as "while the tally is up to sweep the whole row or line off
the ground into the arch of the finger and thumb before catching the
tally."
(_b_) These games are variants of one common original. It is the same
game as that described by F. H. Low in the _Strand Magazine_, ii. 514,
as played in the London streets. The marble there is called a "buck."
"Pegsy" was the name of the No. 5 stage of the Wakefield version, and
this varies too, inasmuch as it was the same gob which is picked up and
then laid down before catching the buck.
Mr. Kinahan says, "'Jackstones,' played with three or four small stones
that are thrown up in the air and caught again, seems to have been a
very ancient game, as the stones have been found in the _crannogs_ or
lake-dwellings in some hole near the fireplaces, similar to where they
are found in a cabin at the present day. An old woman, or other player,
at the present time puts them in a place near the hob when they stop
their game and go to do something else" (_Folk-lore Journal_, ii. 266).
In the Græco-Roman saloon, British Museum, is a statue originally
composed of two boys quarrelling at the game of "Tali" (see _Townley
Gallery_, i. 305; Smith's _Dict. Greek and Roman Antiq._, s.v. _Talus_),
and it is interesting to note that in the Deptford game the marble is
called a "Tally."
Mr. Kinahan's note suggests that "Fivestones" may be an independent
game, instead of a derivative from "Hucklebones." If this is so, we have
interesting evidence of the spread or transmission of one game from at
least two centres. Professor Attwell, in _Notes and Queries_, 8th ser.,
iv. 201, suggests that "Hucklebones" was introduced into Europe by the
Romans, and was spread throughout the countries which formed the empire
by means of Roman colonists and soldiers. Mr. Newell (_Games_, pp.
190-93) describes a similar game to "Fivestones" played in Boston under
the name of "Otadama," or "Japanese Jacks." This game is of Japanese
origin, "Tedama" (that is, "Handballs") being its proper name. He says
there can be no doubt that the two forms of this amusement are branches
of the same root; and we thus have an example of a game which, having
preserved its essential characteristics for thousands of years, has
fairly circumnavigated the globe, so that the two currents of tradition,
westward and eastward, from Europe and Asia, have met in America.
See "Checkstones," "Dibs," "Hucklebones," "Jackstones."
Flowers
Sides are chosen; each side must have a "home" at the top and bottom of
the ground where the children are playing. One side chooses a flower and
goes over to the other side, the members of which stand in a row facing
the first side. The first side states the initial letters of the flower
it has chosen, and when the second side guesses the right flower they
run and try to catch as many of the opposite side as they can before
they reach their home. The captives then become members of the side
which captured them.--Bitterne, Hants (Mrs. Byford).
Follow my Gable
[Music]
--Earls Heaton, Yorkshire.
[Music]
--Redhill, Surrey.
I. Follow my gable 'oary man,
Follow my gable 'oary man,
I'll do all that ever I can
To follow my gable 'oary man.
We'll borrow a horse and steal a gig,
And round the world we'll have a jig,
And I'll do all that ever I can
To follow my gable 'oary man.
--Earls Heaton, Yorks (Herbert Hardy).
II. Holy Gabriel, holy man,
Rantum roarum reeden man,
I'll do all as ever I can
To follow my Gabriel, holy man.[3]
--Redhill, Surrey (Miss G. Hope).
III. I sell my bat, I sell my ball,
I sell my spinning-wheel and all;
And I'll do all that ever I can
To follow the eyes of the drummer man.
--Luton, Bedfordshire (Mrs. Ashdown).
(_b_) In the Yorkshire version a ring is formed with one child in the
middle as the 'Oary Man. Whatever he, or she, does, all in the ring must
mimic, going round and singing at the same time. Any one found late in
changing the action or idle in obeying the caperings of the central
child becomes the 'Oary Man in place of the child taking that part. Both
girls and boys play. In the Redhill version, Holy Gabriel kneels in the
middle of the circle. He acts as leader, and always had the fiddle as
his instrument, though he now usually plays the pianoforte as his first
instrument. The other children choose any instrument they like. Holy
Gabriel pretends to play the fiddle, and all the other children play
their own instruments until Holy Gabriel changes his to one of theirs,
when that one must immediately begin to play the fiddle, and continue
until Holy Gabriel takes another instrument or returns to the fiddle.
This is done in vigorous pantomime. In the Luton variant the children
sit in a semicircle, the Drummer faces them. He plays the drum; all the
other children play on any other instrument they like. If the other
players do not at once change their instrument, or neglect to sing the
lines, a forfeit is demanded.
(_c_) Mr. Hardy says some sing this game, "Follow my game an holy man."
Mr. Hardy once thought it was the remnant of a goblin story of a hoary
man of the gable or house-roof, who presided over the destinies of poor
cottagers, and he had begun to make out the folk tale. The fairy would
sometimes come down, and, playing his antics, compel whomsoever observed
him to follow him in a mimicking procession. Miss Hope writes of "Holy
Gabriel" that the game is played at Mead Vale, a small village in
Surrey, but is unknown at larger villages and towns a few miles off.
Some of the women who played it in their youth say that it began in the
Primitive Methodist school at Mead Vale. It is played at Outword, also a
remote village, and was introduced there by a stonemason, who stated
that he had learned it from a cousin who had been in America. Further
inquiry by Miss Hope elicited the fact that the cousin had learned the
game, when a boy, in his native place in Lancashire. He did not know
whether it was a well-known game there. This information points perhaps
to a modern origin, but in such cases it must be borne in mind that
people are very fond of suggesting recent circumstances as the cause of
the most ancient traditions or customs. The obvious analogy to the
incident in the myth of the Pied Piper, and to the Welsh custom at St.
Almedha Church, near Brecknock, recorded by Giraldus Cambrensis, where
the imitation of a frenzied leader is carried out as a religious
ceremony, rather suggests that in this game we may have a survival of a
ceremonial so common among early or uncultured people, the chief
incident of which is the frenzied dancing of a god-possessed devotee.
[3] A variant of the second line is, "Ranting, roaring, heely man." "I
suppose he was Irish," said my informant, "as he was named
'Healey'" (Miss G. Hope).
Follow my Leader
This is a boys' game. Any number can take part in it. It requires a good
extent of country to play it well. The boy who is the swiftest runner
and the best jumper is chosen as Leader. He sets out at a good speed
over the fields, tries to jump as many ditches or burns, jumping such
from one side to the other again and again, to scramble over dykes,
through hedges, over palings, and run up braes. The others have to
follow him as they can. This steeplechase continues till the followers
are all tired out.--Keith (Rev. W. Gregor).
This is a very general game among schoolboys, but in Hereford it was a
town custom occurring once in seven years on 11th October (_Folk-lore
Journal_, v. 75).
Fool, Fool, come to School
This game is played under the name of "Foolie, Foolie" at Duthil,
Strathspey. The players are placed in a row, either standing or sitting.
Two are chosen, the one as Namer and the other as Foolie. Foolie
withdraws, if not out of sight, at least out of range of hearing. The
Namer then gives a name secretly to each player. When this is done, he
calls on Foolie--Foolie, Foolie, come to your schoolie.
Foolie pays no attention to this call. It is again repeated, but with
the same results. This goes on for several times. At last the Namer
calls out--
Foolie, Foolie, come to your schoolie;
Your bannocks are burnin' an' ready for turnin'.
Foolie always obeys this call, comes and stations himself beside the
Namer. A little chaffing generally goes on against Foolie. The Namer
says, "Come chise me oot, come chise me in, tae" so and so, naming one
by the assumed fancy name. Foolie makes choice of one. If the choice
falls right, the one so chosen steps from the line and stands beside
Foolie. If the choice falls wrong, the one named remains in the line.
All the players' names are called out in this way. If any stand unchosen
by Foolie, the Namer then goes up to each and asks if he wants, _e.g._,
"an aipple," "an orange," "a kirk," "a cottage," &c. Each one whispers
what he wants. The same question is put to Foolie. If he answers,
_e.g._, "orange," the one so named steps out and stands beside Foolie.
All not first chosen are gone over in this way. Those left unchosen take
their stand beside the Namer. There is then a tug-of-war, with the Namer
and Foolie as the leaders.--Keith (Rev. W. Gregor).
In Hants the children stand _vis-à-vis_, as in a country dance. One of
the number is sent out of earshot, and the others decide with the
Captain as to the name of the bird each wishes to personate. The
Captain then calls to the child who is out, "Tom Fool, Tom Fool, come
home from school, and pick me out a blackbird," "cuckoo," or other bird.
If Tom Fool is wrong in his guessing after three trials, he is condemned
to run the gauntlet, being pelted with gloves or handkerchiefs not too
mercifully.--Bitterne, Hants (Miss Byford).
In Sussex there is the same action with the following words, but there
is no chasing or hitting--
Of all the birds in the air,
Of all the fishes in the sea,
You can pick me out [ ]
If the children fail to do so, they say--
Poor fool, been to school,
Learn more in a week;
Been there seven years
And hasn't learnt a bit.
--Hurstmonceux, Sussex (Miss Chase).
The same game is played indoors in Cornwall, the reply being--
Fool, fool, go back to school
And learn your letters better.
--Cornwall (_Folk-lore Journal_, v. 99-80).
See "Namers and Guessers."
Foot and Over
One boy out of a number stoops in the position for "Leap-frog" at an
agreed fixed line. From the players he chooses a Leader and a Foot. The
Leader first leaps over the stooping boy at a foot from the line; the
other players then leap in turn each at a foot further from the line,
the stooping boy moving forward from the line for each player; finally
the Foot leaps as far as the distance leapt by the last boy. If this is
accomplished, the Leader hops from the line and then leaps; the
followers hop and leap each a foot further than each other; finally the
Foot hops and leaps as far as the distance covered by the last boy. If
this is accomplished, the Leader hops twice and then leaps; the same
process going on until one of the boys fails, who then takes the place
of the stooping boy, and the game begins again. If the Foot covers any
longer distance than the Leader, the Leader stoops down.--Earls Heaton,
Yorks. (H. Hardy).