it up. Hop, not touching lines, from No. 1 to No. 4, and "out." Throw
stone into No. 2. Do as before. And so successively into Nos. 3 and 4.
Next balance stone on shoe, then on the palm of hand, then on the back
of hand, then on the head, then on the shoulder, then on the eye (tilt
head back to keep it from falling). In each case walk round once with it
so balanced and catch at end.
In the third plan (fig. 3) the game is:--Put pebble in No. 1. Pick up.
Hop, having one foot in No. 2 and the other in No. 3. Step into No. 4.
Hop, having one foot in No. 5 and the other in No. 6. Jump round. Go
back as you came. Then with stone on shoe, walk through the figure, kick
it up and catch at the close. Place stone on eyelid; walk through the
same figure, dropping it off into hand at close. This is called
"jumping."
In the fourth plan (fig. 4) the game is:--Throw stone into No. 1. Pick
it up. Hop from No. 1 to No. 8, not touching lines. So successively into
Nos. 2, 3, 4, &c. Walk into No. 1 with stone on foot, and out at No. 8.
Kick it up and catch it. The same with stone on thumb. Toss it up and
catch. Again with stone on your back. Straighten up, let it slide into
your hand.
In Stead's _Holderness Glossary_, this is described as a boys' or girls'
game, in which the pavement is chalked with numbered crossed lines, and
a pebble or piece of crockery is propelled onward by the foot, the
performer hopping on one leg, the number reached on the chalk-line being
scored to him or her. At Whitby it is called "Pally-ully," and played
with rounded pieces of pot the size of a penny. Divisions are chalked on
the pavement, and the "pally-ullies" are impelled within the lines by a
hop on one leg, and a side shuffle with the same foot (_Whitby
Glossary_). It is sometimes called "Tray-Trip." Atkinson describes the
figure as oblong, with many angular compartments (_Cleveland Glossary_).
Jamieson defines "Beds" as "Hop-scotch," a game denominated from the
form, sometimes by strangers called squares. In Aberdeen the spaces
marked out are sometimes circular.
Mrs. Lincoln sends a diagram of the game from Dublin (fig. 6). Addy
(_Sheffield Glossary_) under the name of "Hop-score" says it is a game
in which certain squares are drawn or _scored_ on the ground. The piece
of stone which is pushed with the foot is called the "scotch." Elworthy
(_West Somerset Words_) says a piece of tile is kicked over lines and
into squares marked on the ground. It is called "Hickety-Hackety," also
"Huckety." Cope (_Hampshire Glossary_) says it is played in Hants. Moor
(_Suffolk Words and Phrases_) describes this game under the name of
"Scotch-hob," by hopping and kicking a bit of tile from bed to bed of a
diagram which he gives (fig. 5, here printed). Brockett (_North Country
Words_) calls it "Beds." Barnes (_Dorset Glossary_) only says "hopping
over a parallelogram of scotches or chalk-lines on the ground." F. H.
Low, in _Strand Magazine_, ii. 516, says the divisions are respectively
named onesie, twosie, threesie, foursie, and puddings. It is called
"Hop-bed" at Stixwold in Lincolnshire (Miss Peacock), "Hop-score" in
Yorkshire (Halliwell, l.c.), and "Hitchibed" in Cleveland, Yorks.
(_Glossary of Cleveland Words_). Strutt describes it (_Sports_, p. 383);
and Wood's _Modern Playmate_, p. 32, gives a diagram similar to one seen
on a London pavement by A. B. Gomme (see fig. 7). Mr. Emslie has sent me
figs. 9 and 10, also from London streets. Newell (_Games_, p. 188)
speaks of it as a well-known game in America.
Mr. Elworthy (_West Somerset Words_) says, "Several of these (diagrams
marked on the ground) are still to be seen, scratched on the ancient
pavement of the Roman Forum." Mr. J. W. Crombie says, "The game of
'Hop-scotch' was one of considerable antiquity, having been known in
England for more than two centuries, and it was played all over Europe
under different names. Signor Pitré's solar explanation of its origin
appeared improbable to him, for not only was the evidence in its favour
extremely weak, but it would require the original number of divisions in
the figure to have been twelve instead of seven, which was the number
indicated by a considerable body of evidence. It would seem more
probable that the game at one time represented the progress of the soul
from earth to heaven through various intermediate states, the name given
to the last court being most frequently paradise or an equivalent, such
as crown or glory, while the names of the other courts corresponded with
the eschatological ideas prevalent in the early days of Christianity."
Some such game existed before Christianity, and Mr. Crombie considered
that it had been derived from several ancient games. Possibly the
strange myths of the labyrinths might have had something to do with
"Hop-scotch," and a variety of the game played in England, under the
name of "Round Hop-scotch," was almost identical with a game described
by Pliny as being played by the boys of his day. Mr. Crombie also said
he "believed that the early Christians adopted the general idea of the
ancient game, but they not only converted it into an allegory of heaven,
with Christian beliefs and Christian names; they Christianised the
figure also; they abandoned the heathen labyrinth and replaced it by the
form of the Basilicon, the early Christian church, dividing it into
seven parts, as they believed heaven to be divided, and placing
paradise, the inner sanctum of heaven, in the position of the altar, the
inner sanctum of their earthly church."
See "Hap the Beds."
Hop, Step, and Jump
See "Half-Hammer."
Hornie
A game among children in which one of the company runs after the rest
having his hands clasped and his thumbs pushed out before him in
resemblance of horns. The first person whom he touches with his thumbs
becomes his property, joins hands with him, and aids in attempting to
catch the rest: and so on until they are all made captives. Those who
are at liberty still cry out, "Hornie, Hornie."--Lothian (Jamieson).
Jamieson says: "Whether this play be a vestige of the very ancient
custom of assuming the appearance and skins of animals, especially in
the sports of Yule, or might be meant to symbolise the exertions made by
the devil (often called 'Hornie') in making sinful man his prey, and
employing fellow-men as his coadjutors in this work, I cannot pretend
to determine."
See "Hunt the Staigie," "Whiddy."
Hornie Holes
A game in which four play, a principal and an assistant on each side. A.
stands with his assistant at one hole, and throws what is called a Cat
(a piece of stick, and frequently a sheep's horn), with the design of
making it alight in another hole at some distance, at which B. and his
assistant stand ready to drive it aside. The bat or driver is a rod
resembling a walking-stick.
The following unintelligible rhyme is repeated by a player on the one
side, while they on the other are gathering in the Cats, and is attested
by old people as of great antiquity:--
Jock, Speak, and Sandy,
W' a' their lousy train
Round about by Errinborra,
We'll never meet again.
Gae head 'im, gae hang 'im,
Gae lay 'im in the sea;
A' the birds o' the air
Will bear him companee.
With a nig-nag, widdy- [_or_ worry-] bag,
And an e'endown trail, trail;
Quoth he.
--Jamieson.
The game is also called "Kittie-cat."
See "Cat and Dog," "Cudgel," "Tip-cat."
Horns
"A' Horns to the Lift," a game of young people. A circle is formed round
a table, and all placing their forefingers on the table, one cries, "A'
horns to the lift! Cat's horns upmost!" If on this any one lift his
finger, he owes a wad, as cats have no horns. In the same manner, the
person who does not raise his fingers when a horned animal is named is
subjected to a forfeit.--Jamieson.
Hot Cockles
At Sheffield a boy is chosen for a Stump, and stands with his back
against a wall. Another boy bends his back as in "Leapfrog," and puts
his head against the Stump. The cap of the boy who bends down is then
taken off, and put upon his back upside down. Then each of the other
boys who are playing puts the first finger of his right hand into the
cap. When all the fingers are put into the cap, these lines are sung--
The wind blows east, the wind blows west,
The wind blows o'er the cuckoo's nest.
Where is this poor man to go?
Over yond cuckoo's hill I O.
Then the boy whose back is bent jumps up, and the others run away crying
out, "Hot cockles." The boy who is caught by the one whose back was
first bent has to bend his back next time, and so on.--S. O. Addy.
At Cork a handkerchief is tied over the eyes of one of the company, who
then lays his head on a chair, and places his hand on his back with the
palm uppermost. Any of the party come behind him and give him a slap on
his hand, he in the meantime trying to discover whose hand it is that
strikes.--Miss Keane.
"Hot Cockles" is an old game, practised especially at Christmas. One boy
sits down, and another, who is blindfolded, kneels and lays his head on
his knee, placing at the same time his open hand on his own back. He
then cries, "Hot cockles, hot!" Another then strikes his open hand, and
the sitting boy asks who strikes. If the boy guessed wrongly, he made a
forfeit; but if rightly, he was released.--_Notes and Queries_, 4th
series, ix. 262.
The sport is noticed by Gay--
As at hot-cockles once I laid me down,
I felt the weighty hand of many a clown;
Buxoma gave a gentle tap, and I
Quick rose and read soft mischief in her eye.
Halliwell describes it rather differently. The blindfolded boy lies down
on his face, and, being struck, must guess who it is that hit him. A
good part of the fun consisted in the hardness of the slaps, which were
generally given on the throne of honour. He quotes from a MS. play as
follows--
It is edicted that every Grobian shall play at Bamberye hott cockles
at the four festivals.
Indeed a verye usefull sport, but lately much neglected to the
mollefieinge of the flesh.
--Halliwell's _Dictionary_.
[Illustration]
Nares' _Glossary_ also contains quotations from works of 1639, 1653, and
1697 which illustrate the game. Mr. Addy says "that this game as played
in Sheffield is quite different from that described under the same title
in Halliwell's _Dictionary_. Aubrey (p. 30) speaks of 'Hot Cockles' as a
game played at funerals in Yorkshire, and the lines here given show that
this was the game. The lines--
Where is this poor man to go?
Over yond cuckoo's hill I O,
embodies the popular belief that the soul winged its way like a bird,
and they remind one of the passing of the soul over Whinny Moor (see
funeral dirge in Aubrey's _Remains of Gentilisme_, p. 31). Grimm
mentions the cuckoo hill (Gauchsberg). He says, 'Originally in
Gauchsberg the bird himself may very well have been meant in a mystic
sense which has fallen dark to us now' (_Teut. Myth._, ii. 681). We
know, too, the old belief that the cuckoo tells children how many years
they have to live. These lines are also sometimes said, in addition to
those given above--
Elder belder, limber lock,
Three wives in a clock;
Sit and sing, and call a spring,
O-u-t spells out.
The boy who bends down is supposed to be undergoing a great penalty."
Strutt (_Sports_, p. 394) describes this game, and gives an illustration
which is here reproduced from the original MSS. in the Bodleian.
This game may have originated from a custom at funerals of practising
spells for the safe and speedy passage of the departing spirit to its
destination, or from divination mysteries to foretell who would be the
next among the mourners to follow the dead body to the grave. The spirit
of prophecy was believed to exist in a dying person. See "Handy
Croopen."
How many Miles to Babylon
I. King and Queen of Cantelon,
How many miles to Babylon?
Eight and eight and other eight.
Will I get there by candle-light?
If your horse be good and your spurs be bright.
How mony men have ye?
Mae nae ye daur come and see.
--Chambers' _Popular Rhymes_, p. 124; Mactaggart's _Gallovidian
Encyclopædia_.
II. How many miles to Babylon?
Three score and ten.
Will we be there by candle-light?
Yes, and back again.
Open your gates and let us go through.
Not without a beck and a boo.
There's a beck, and there's a boo,
Open your gates and let us go through.
--Nairn, Scotland (Rev. W. Gregor).
III. How far to Banbury Cross?
Four score and ten.
Can I get there by candle-light?
Yes, if your legs are long and light.
Please to let me go?
Not without you bend and bow [pronounced bo].
Here's my bend [curtseys],
And here's my bow [touches forehead],
Now will you let me go?
--Fernham and Longcot (Miss I. Barclay).
IV. How many miles to Babylon?
Three score and ten.
Can we get there by candle-light?
Yes, and back again.
Open your gates as wide as you can,
And let King George and his family go through.
Not without a back, not without a bow,
Not without a curtsey, and then I'll let you through.
--South Shields (Miss Blair).
V. How many miles to Babylon?
Three score and ten.
Can I get there o' candle-light?
There and back again.
Here's my black [raising one foot],
And here's my blue [raising the other],
Open the gates and let me through.
--Annaverna, Ravendale, co. Louth, Ireland (Miss R. Stephen).
VI. How many miles to Barney Bridge?
Three score and ten.
Will I be there by candle-light?
Yes, if your legs are long.
A curtsey to you, another to you,
If you please will you let the king's horses go through?
Yes, but take care of your hindmost man.
--Belfast (W. H. Patterson).
VII. How many miles to Gandigo?
Eighty-eight almost, or quite.
Can I [we] get there by candle-light?
Yes, if your legs are long and light.
Open the gate as high as the sky,
And let the king and his queen go by.
--Dorsetshire (_Folk-lore Journal_, vii. 230, 231).
VIII. How many miles to Banbury?
Three score and ten.
Can I get there by candle-light?
Yes, and back again.
But mind the old witch doesn't catch you.
--London (Miss Dendy).
IX. How many miles to Barley Bridge?
Three score and ten.
Can I get there by candle-light?
Yes, if your legs be long.
A courtesy to you, and a courtesy to you,
If you please will you let the king's horses through?
Through and through shall they go,
For the king's sake;
But the one that is the hindmost
Will meet with a great mistake.
--Halliwell's _Popular Rhymes_, p. 217.
X. How many miles to Barney Bridge?
Three score and ten.
Will I be there by Candlemass?
Yes, and back again.
A curtsey to you, another to you,
And pray, fair maids, will you let us through?
Thro' and thro' shall you go for the king's sake,
But take care the last man does not meet a mistake.
--Dublin (Mrs. Lincoln).
XI. How many miles to Burslem?
Three score and ten.
Can we get there by candle-light?
Yes, and back again.
Open the gates so wide, so wide,
And let King George aside, aside;
The night is so dark we cannot see,
Thread the needle and go through.
--Isle of Man (A. W. Moore).
XII. How many miles to Banbury Cross?
Three score and ten.
Shall we get there by midnight?
Yes, if you run well.
Then open your gates as wide as the sky,
And let King George and his men pass by.
It is so dark we cannot see, so thread the needle Nancy,
Thread the needle Nancy.
One, two, three.
--Warwick (from a little girl living near Warwick, through Mr. C. C.
Bell).
XIII. How many miles to London?
Three score ten.
Can I get there by candle-light?
Yes, and back again.
Open the gate and let me through.
Not unless you're black and blue.
Here's my black and here's my blue,
Open the gates and let me through.
Dan, Dan, thread the needle; Dan, Dan, sew.
--_Suffolk County Folk-lore_, p. 63.
XIV. How many miles to Babylon?
Three score and ten.
Shall I be there by candle-light?
Yes, there and back again.
Open the gates as wide as high,
And let King George and his family pass by.
--Wales (_Folk-lore Record_, v. 88).
{ Barley Bridge?
XV. How many miles to { Banbury?
{ London?
Four score and ten [_or_, Fifty miles and more].
Shall we be there by candle-light?
Oh, yes, and back again.
[_Or, at Market Drayton._
Shift your feet with nimble light,
And you'll be there by candle-light.]
Open the gates as wide as the sky,
And let King George and his lady go by.
--Market Drayton, Ellesmere, Whitchurch, (Burne's _Shropshire
Folk-lore_, p. 522).
XVI. How many miles to Bethlehem?
Three score and ten.
Shall we get there by candle-light?
Yes, there and back again.
So open the gates and let King George and his family go
through.
--Hayton, near York (H. Hardy).
XVII. How far is it to Babylon?
Three score miles and ten.
Can I get there by candle-light?
Yes, there and back again.
--Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews).
XVIII. How many miles to Babylon?
Three score and ten.
Can you get there by candle-light?
O yes, and back again.
--Hanbury, Staffordshire (Miss E. Hollis).
XIX. Open the gates as wide as high,
And let King George and I go by;
It is so dark I cannot see
To thread my grandmother's needle.
--Surrey (_Folk-lore Record_, v. 88).
(_b_) There are two methods of playing this game, one in which a King
and Queen are represented, and the other in which gates of a city are
represented. Of the first Chambers and Mactaggart practically give the
same account. The latter says, "Two of the swiftest boys are placed
between two 'doons' or places of safety; these, perhaps, are two hundred
yards distant. All the other boys stand in one of these places or doons,
when the two fleet youths come forward and address them with the rhyme.
When out, they run in hopes to get to Babylon or the other doon, but
many get not near that place before they are caught by the runners, who
'taens' them, that is, lay their hands upon their heads, when they are
not allowed to run any more in that game, that is, until they all be
taened or taken."
The Norfolk game seems to resemble the Scotch, though in a much less
complete form. Miss Matthews describes it as follows:--"A line of
children is formed, and the two standing opposite it sing the questions,
to which the line reply; then the two start off running in any direction
they please, and the others try to catch them."
[Illustration: Fig. 1.]
[Illustration: Fig. 2.]
The second method of playing is best described by the Rev. Walter
Gregor, from the Nairn game, which is known as "The Gates of Babylon."
Mr. Gregor writes as follows:--"This game may be played either by boys
or girls. Two of the players join hands, and stand face to face, with
their hands in front as if forming a gate. Each of these has a secret
name. The other players form themselves into a line by clasping each
other round the waist from behind. They go up to the two that form the
gate, and the leader asks the first question, as in version No. 2. The
dialogue then proceeds to the end. The two then lift their arms as high
as they can, still joined, and the line of players passes through. All
at once the two bring their arms down on one and make him (or her)
prisoner. The prisoner is asked in a whisper, so as not to disclose the
secret name, which of the two is to be chosen. The one so captured takes
his (or her) stand behind the one chosen. The same process is gone
through till all the players are taken captive, and have stationed
themselves behind the one or the other of the two forming the gate. The
last one of the line goes through three times. The first time the word
'breakfast' is pronounced; the second time 'dinner;' and the third time
'supper.' The player then chooses a side. The two sides have then a tug
of war. The game ends at this point with girls. With boys the conquered
have to run the gauntlet. The victors range themselves in two lines,
each boy with his cap or handkerchief tightly plaited in his hand, and
pelt with all their might the vanquished as they run between the lines.
The boys of Nairn call this running of the gauntlet, 'through fire an'
watter.'"
The method of playing the Warwick, Fernham, and Louth versions is
practically the same. The children stand in half-circle beginning with
the two tallest at either end. All clasp hands. The two at one end
question those at the other end alternately (fig. 1). At the last line
the two that have been answering hold their hands up to form a bridge,
and all the others thread through, still holding hands (the bridge
advancing slowly) (fig. 2). The Louth version is also sometimes played
as "Oranges and Lemons." This is also the case with the Belfast, South
Shields, Ellesmere, and Dublin versions. Miss Burne also gives a second
method of playing this game at Ellesmere: she says, "The whole number of
players stand in two rows facing each other, each player joining hands
with the one opposite. The pair at the lower end parley with the pair at
the top, and then run under the extended arms of the others, receiving
thumps on the back as they go, till they reach the upper end, and become
the top couple in their turn." The Hanbury version is played in a
similar way. Two lines stand close together holding handkerchiefs
across. The questions are asked and answered by the top and bottom
players. Then two children run under the line of handkerchiefs. The
Dorset version is played by as many as like standing, two and two,
opposite each other, each of them taking with the right hand the right
hand of the other; then the two that are the King and Queen say or sing
the first question, to which the others reply, and the dialogue ends in
this manner. Then all the other pairs hold up their hands as high as
they can, and the King and Queen run through the archway and back again,
and so on with the next pair, and other pairs in turn. The Isle of Man
version is played, Mr. Moore says, the same as other "Thread the Needle"
games.
(_c_) The game is evidently dramatic in form, and perhaps is
illustrative of some fact of history, such as the toll upon merchandise
entering a walled town. The changes in the words of the different
versions are not very great, but they show the influence of modern
history upon the game. The appearance of King George evidently points to
the date when it was frequently played, though the older versions are
doubtless those in which his Majesty does not do duty. Mactaggart has
the following quaint note which perhaps may supply the origin, though it
seems a far cry to the Crusaders:--"This sport has something methinks of
antiquity in it; it seemeth to be a pantomime of some scenes played off
in the time of the Crusades. 'King and Queen o' Cantilon' evidently must
be King and Queen of Caledon, but slightly changed by time. Then Babylon
in the rhyme, the way they had to wander and hazard being caught by the
infidels, all speak as to the foundation of the game" (Mactaggart's
_Gallovidian Encyclopædia_).
In the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for December 1849, in a review of the
_Life of Shirley_, it is stated that in many parts of England the old
game of "Thread the Needle" is played to the following words, which
refer to the gate of the city of Hebron, known as the "needle's eye."
How many miles to Hebron?
Three score and ten.
Shall I be there by midnight?
Yes, and back again.
Then thread the needle, &c.
The game is also described in _Notes and Queries_, iv. 141, as played in
the same way as above, and the writer adds there are subsequent
evolutions by which each couple becomes in succession the eye of the
needle.
Howly
A street game played by boys in a town, one of them hiding behind a wall
or house-end, and crying "Howly" to the seekers.--Atkinson's _Cleveland
Glossary_.
See "Hide and Seek."
Huckie-buckie down the Brae
Children in Lothian have a sport in which they slide down a hill,
sitting on their hunkers (Jamieson). The well-known custom at Greenwich
is probably the same game, and there are examples at Tumbling Hill, a
few miles from Exeter, at May Pole Hill, near Gloucester, and other
places.
Huckle-bones