The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland Volume Ii Part 24

A game played with a certain number of pins and a ball, resembling half a cricket ball. One pin is placed in the centre, the rest (with the exception of one called the Jack) are placed in a circle round it; the Jack is placed about a foot or so from the circle, in a line with the one in the circle and the one in the centre. The centre one is called the King, the one between that and the Jack, the Queen. The King counts for three, the Queen two, and each of the other pins for one each, except Jack. The art of the game lies in bowling down all the pins except Jack, for if Jack is bowled down, the player has just so many deducted from his former score as would have been added if he had not struck the Jack (Holloway's _Dict. Provincialisms_). This game was formerly called "Half-bowl," and was prohibited by a statute of Edward IV. (Halliwell's _Dictionary_). Brockett (_North Country Words and Phrases_) says it is a game played at fairs and races. It is, under the name of "Kayles," well described and ill.u.s.trated by Strutt (_Sports and Pastimes_, p. 270, 271), which is reproduced here. It will be seen that Jamieson describes it as played with a pole or cudgel. He says this game no doubt gave origin to the modern one of "Nine-pins;" though primitively the Kayle-pins do not appear to have been confined to any certain number nor shape... . The Kayle-pins appear to have been placed in one row only. He also says that "Half-bowl," played in Hertfords.h.i.+re, was called "Roly-poly."

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Jamieson (_Dictionary_) gives this as "Rollie-poly," a game of nine-pins, called also _Kayles_. The name "Rollie-poly" was given to it because it was played with a pole, or cudgel, by which the pins were knocked over. In the West of Scotland, where this game was in great repute in olden times, it formed one of the chief sports of Fastern's-e'en, and was a favourite amus.e.m.e.nt at fairs and races. The awards for successful throwing were generally in the form of small cakes of gingerbread, which were powerful incentives to the game, and never failed to attract players in response to the cry, "Wha'll try the lucky Kayles?"

Ronin the Bee

A rude game. A cazzie, or ca.s.sie, is unexpectedly thrown over the head of a person. When thus blindfolded he is pressed down, and buckets of water are thrown upon the ca.s.sie till the victim is thoroughly saturated.-Jamieson's _Dictionary_.

See "Carrying the Queen a Letter," "Ezzeka."

Rosy Apple, Lemon and Pear

[Music]

-Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews).

I. Rosy apple, lemon, or pear, Bunch of roses she shall wear; Gold and silver by her side, I know who will be the bride.

Take her by her lily-white hand, Lead her to the altar; Give her kisses,-one, two, three,- Mrs. (child's name) daughter.

-Hersham, Surrey (_Folk-lore Record_, v. 58).

II. Rosy apple, lemon, and pear, A bunch of roses she shall wear; Gold and silver by her side, Choose the one shall be her bride.

Take her by her lily-white hand, Lead her to the altar; Give her kisses,-one, two, three,- To old mother's runaway daughter.

-Symondsbury, Dorsets.h.i.+re (_Folk-lore Journal_, vii. 210).

III. Rosy apple, lemon, and a pear, A bunch of ribbons she shall wear; Gold and silver by her side, I know who will be her bride.

Take her by the lily-white hand, Lead her over the water; Give her kisses,-one, two, three,- For Mrs. -- daughter.

-Maxey, Northants. (Rev. W. D. Sweeting).

IV. Rosy apple, lemon, and a pear, Bunch of roses you shall wear; Gold and silver by your side, I know who shall be a bride.

Take her by the lily-white hand, Lead her 'cross the water; Give her kisses,-one, two, three,- For Mrs. (So-and-so's) daughter.

-Deptford, Kent (Miss Chase).

V. Rosie had an apple and a pear, A bunch of roses she shall wear; Gold and silver by her side, I knows who shall be her bride.

Take her by the lily-white hand, Lead her across the water; Give her a kiss, and one, two, three, Old Mother Sack-a-biddy's daughter!

-Ogbourne, Wilts. (H. S. May).

VI. Rosy apples, mellow pears, Bunch of roses she shall wear; Gold and silver by her side, Tell me who shall be her bride.

Take her by her lily-white hand, Lead her across the ocean; Give her a kiss, and one, two, three, Mrs. -- daughter.

-Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews).

VII. A rosy apple, lemon, and a pear, A bunch of roses she shall wear; Gold and silver by your side, Choose the one to be your bride.

Take her by her lily-white hand, Lead her to the altar; Give her a kiss by one, two, three, Mrs. -- daughter.

-Cowes, I. of Wight (Miss E. Smith).

VIII. Roses up, and roses down, Roses in the garden; I wadna gie ye a bunch o' flowers For tenpence halfpenny farden.

Take her by the lily-white hand, Lead her across the water; Gie her a kiss, and one, two, three, For she's a lady's daughter.

-Berwicks.h.i.+re (A. M. Bell) _Antiquary_, x.x.x. 16.

IX. Maggie Littlejohn, fresh and fair, A bunch of roses in her hair; Gold and silver by her side, I know who is her bride.

Take her by the lily-white hand, Lead her over the water; Give her kisses,-one, two, three,- For she's a lady's daughter.

Roses up, and roses down, And roses in the garden; I widna give a bunch of roses For twopence ha'penny farthing.

-Rev. W. Gregor.

X. Roses up, and roses down, And roses in the garden; I widna gie a bunch o' roses For tippence ha'penny farden.

So and so, fresh and fair, A bunch o' roses she shall wear; Gold and silver by her side, Crying out, "Cheese and bride" (bread).

Take her by the lily-white hand, Lead her on the water; Give her kisses,-one, two, three,- For she's her mother's daughter.

-Fraserburgh (Rev. W. Gregor).

XI. Roses up, and roses down, And roses in the garden; I wadna gie a bunch o' roses For twopence ha'penny farthin'.

--, fresh and fair, A bunch of roses she shall wear; Gold and silver by her side, I know who's her bride.

Take her by the lily-white hand, And lead her o'er the water; And give her kisses,-one, two, three,- For she's the princess' daughter.

-Cullen (Rev. W. Gregor).

XII. Maggie Black, fresh and fair, A bunch of roses she shall wear; I know who I'll take.

Give her kisses,-one, two, three,- For she's a lady's daughter.

Roses in, and roses out, Roses in a garden; I would not give a bunch of roses For twopence halfpenny "farden."

-Nairn (Rev. W. Gregor).

(_c_) The players form a ring, one child stands in the centre, who chooses a sweetheart from the ring when the fifth line is sung; the two kiss, the first child takes her place in the ring, the second child remains in the centre, and the game begins again. This is the method adopted in most of the versions. The Symondsbury game is slightly different; the first part is the same, but when the last line is sung the child who was first in the middle must run away and take a place in the ring as soon as she can. The second one remains in the centre. The Maxey (Northants.) version is altogether different. All the children but one stand in a row. The one stands in front of them and sings the lines by herself; at the last line she selects one from the line by naming her. These two then sing the lines, "swinging round," so described by Mr. Sweeting's informant. They then select a third when singing the last line, and the three then swing round. This is repeated till all the children from the line come into the ring.

In the Scotch versions the players all stand in a line, with one in front, and sing. At the end of the fourth line the one in front chooses one from the line, and all again sing, mentioning the name of the one chosen (Fraserburgh). At Cullen, one child stands out of the line and goes backwards and forwards singing, then chooses her partner, and the two go round the line singing.

(_d_) A version which I collected in Barnes is not so perfect as those given here, only the four first lines being sung. A Kentish version sent me by Miss Broadwood is almost identical with the Deptford game. Miss Broadwood's version commences-

Rosy apple, miller, miller, pear.

An Ipswich version is almost identical with that of Hersham, Surrey (Lady C. Gurdon's _Suffolk County Folk-lore_, p. 64), except that it begins "Golden apple" and ends with the marriage formula-

Now you're married, I wish you joy, Father and mother you must obey; Love one another like sister and brother, And now's the time to kiss away.

(_e_) This game is probably derived from the mode of dressing the bride in the marriage ceremony, and is not very ancient. The line "Lead her to the altar" probably indicates the earliest version, corrupted later into "Lead her across the water," and this would prove a comparatively modern origin. If, however, the "altar" version is a corruption of the "water"

version, the game may go back to the pre-Christian marriage ceremony, but of this there is little evidence.