The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland Volume Ii Part 66

I hae been awa at the wadds and the wears These seven lang years; And come hame a puir broken ploughman, What will ye gie me to help me to my trade?

He may either say he's a "puir broken ploughman" or any other trade, but since he has chosen that trade some of the articles belonging to it must always be given or offered to recruit it. But the article he most wants he privately tells one of the party, who is not allowed to offer him anything, as he knows the thing, which will throw the offerer in a wadd, and must be avoided as much as possible, for to be in a wadd is a very serious matter. Now, the one on the left hand of the "poor ploughman"

makes the first offer by way of answer to what above was said-"I'll gie ye the coulter to help ye to your trade." The ploughman answers, "I don't thank ye for the coulter; I hae ane already." Then another offers him another article belonging to the ploughman's business, such as the moolbred, but this also is refused: another gives the sock, another the stilts, another the spattle, another the naigs, and so on until one gives the soam, which was the article he most wanted, and was the thing secretly told to the one player. This throws the giver into a wadd, out of which he is relieved in the following manner:-

The ploughman says to the one in the wadd, "Whether will ye hae three questions and two commands, or three commands and two questions to answer, or gang on wi', sae that ye may win out o' the wadd?" For the one so fixed has always the choice which of these to take. Suppose he takes the first, two commands and three questions, then a specimen of these may be-"I command ye to kiss the crook," says the ploughman, which must be completely obeyed by the one in the wadd; his naked lips must kiss the sooty implement. Secondly, says the ploughman, I command ye to stand up in that neuk and say-

"Here stan' I, as stiff's a stake, Wha 'ill kiss me for pity's sake?"

which must also be done; in a corner of the house must he stand and repeat this couplet, until some tender-hearted la.s.s relieves him. Then the questions are asked, such as-"Suppose you were in a bed with Maggie Lowden and Jennie Logan, your twa great sweethearts, what ane o'm wad ye ding owre the bedside, and what ane wad ye turn to and clap and cuddle?"

He has to choose one, perhaps to the great mirth of the company.

Secondly, "Suppose ye were stannin' stark naked on the tap o'

Cairnhattie, whether wad ye cry on Peggie Kirtle or Nell o' Killimingie to come wi' your claise?" He has again to choose. Lastly, "Suppose ye were in a boat wi' Tibbie Tait, Mary Kairnie, Sally Snadrap, and Kate o'

Minnieive, and it was to coup wi' ye, what ane o' 'em wad ye sink? what ane wad ye soom? wha wad ye bring to lan'? and wha wad ye marry?" Then he has again to choose between the girls named.

Chambers gives the following versions of the "Wadds":-

The wadds was played by a group seated round the hearth fire, the la.s.ses being on one side and the lads on the other. The questions are asked and answers given alternately. A lad first chants-

O it's hame, and it's hame, and it's hame, hame, hame, I think this night I maun gae hame.

One of the opposite party then says-

Ye had better light, and bide a' night, And I'll choose you a bonny ane.

O wha will ye choose, an' I wi' you abide?

The fairest and rarest in a' the country side.

At the same time presenting an unmarried female by name. If the choice give satisfaction-

I'll set her up on the bonny pear-tree; It's straught and tall, and sae is she; I wad wake a' night her love to be.

If the choice do not give satisfaction, from the age of the party-

I'll set her up i' the bank dike; She'll be rotten ere I be ripe; The corbies her auld banes wadna pike.

If from supposed want of temper-

I'll set her up on the high crab-tree; It's sour and dour, and sae is she; She may gang to the mools unkissed by me.

A civil mode of declining is to say-

She's for another, and no for me; I thank you for your courtesie.

The same ritual is gone through with respect to one of the other s.e.x; in which case such rhymes as the following are used:-

I'll put him on a riddle, and blaw him owre the sea, Wha'll buy [Johnie Paterson] for me?

I'll put him on my big lum head, And blaw him up wi' pouther and lead.

Or, when the proposed party is agreeable-

I'll set him on my table head, And feed him up wi' milk and bread.

A refusal must be atoned for by a wadd or forfeit. A piece of money, a knife, or any little thing which the owner prizes, will serve. When a sufficient number of persons have made forfeits, the business of redeeming them is commenced, and generally it is then that the amus.e.m.e.nt is greatest. The duty of kissing some person, or some part of the room, is usually a.s.signed as a means of redeeming one's wadds. Often for this purpose a lad has to kiss the very lips he formerly rejected; or, it may be, he has to kneel to the prettiest, bow to the wittiest, and kiss the one he loves best before the forfeit is redeemed.-The substance of the above is from a note in Cromek's _Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song_, p. 114, who says-In this game formerly young men and women arranged themselves on each side of the fire, and alternately bestowed husbands and wives on each other. Carleton's _Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry_, p. 106, also describes the game without any material difference.

Another form of this game, practised in Dumfriess.h.i.+re in the last century, and perhaps still, was more common. The party are first fitted each with some ridiculous name, not very easy to be remembered, such as _Swatter-in-the-Sweet-Milk_, _b.u.t.ter-Milk-and-Brose_, _the Gray Gled o'

Glenwhargan Craig_, &c. Then all being seated, one comes up, repeating the following rhymes-

I never stealt Rob's dog, nor never intend to do, But weel I ken wha stealt him, and dern'd him in a cleugh, And pykit his banes bare, bare, bare eneugh!

Wha but--wha but--

The object is to burst out suddenly with one of the fict.i.tious names, and thus take the party bearing it by surprise. If the individual mentioned, not immediately recollecting the name he bore, failed, on the instant, to say "No me," by way of denying the accusation respecting the dog, he was subjected to a forfeit; and this equally happened if he cried "No me," when it was the name of another person which was mentioned. The forfeits were disposed of as in the former case.-_Popular Rhymes_, pp. 125-126.

It will be seen that the first version of Chambers more nearly resembles "Hey Wullie Wine" (vol. i. p. 207), and that the latter part of the version given by Mactaggart is similar to "Three Flowers" (ante, p. 255, and the first part to "Trades," p. 305). Mr. W. Ballantyne sent me a version from Biggar as played when he was a boy. It is similar to Mactaggart's.

This game may indicate an earlier form of playing at forfeits than the "Old Soldier," "Turn the Trencher," and kindred English games.

Mactaggart does not state that any article belonging to the person who perpetrates the offence was given up and afterwards redeemed by the owner performing a penalty. In Chambers' versions this is done. It may be that, in Mactaggart's case, each offending person paid his or her penalty immediately after committing the blunder or offence instead of a leader collecting the forfeits from all offenders first, and then "crying" all together afterwards. Whether the game originated in the practice of "tabu," or was an outcome of the custom of rest.i.tution, or ransom, legally made for the commission of crimes, such as that called wergeld, the penalty or price to be paid to the relatives of a slain man, or of punishment for certain offences then being in the hands of a certain cla.s.s of people, we cannot now decide; but it was customary for penalties to be attached to the commission of minor offences, and the punishment enforced without appeal to any legally const.i.tuted authority.

The object of most of the present forfeit games seems to have been to make the offenders ridiculous, or, in the case of the above form of games, to find out the person loved or hated. In Shrops.h.i.+re "Crying the Weds" is the name given to the game of playing at forfeits. Wadd means a pledge. Jamieson says "Wears" signifies the "Wars." "At the wars" is a common mode still retained of describing the life of a soldier. Ihre supposes that the early term wadd or wed is derived from wadd-cloth, from this kind of merchandise being anciently given and received instead of money; when at any time a pledge was left, a piece of cloth was used for this purpose, and hence a pledge in general would be called wadd.

In Waldron's description of the Isle of Man (ante, vol. i. p. 139) is an account of a Twelfth Day custom which throws light on the game as described by Chambers.

See "Forfeits," "Hey Wullie Wine," "Three Flowers," "Trades."

Wadds and the Wears (2)

Jamieson describes the game differently. He says-The players being equally divided, and a certain s.p.a.ce being marked out between them, each lays down one or more wadds, or pledges, at that extremity where the party to which he belongs choose their station. A boundary being fixed, the object is to carry off the wadds from the one of these to the other.

The two parties advancing to the boundary seize the first opportunity of crossing it, by making inroads on the territories of the other. If one who crosses the line is seized by the opposite party before he has touched any of their wadds, he is set down beside them as a prisoner, and receives the name of a "stinker;" nor can he be released until one of his own party can touch him without being intercepted by any of the others, in which case he is free. If any one is caught in the act of carrying off a wadd, it is taken from him; but he cannot be detained as a prisoner, in consequence of his having touched it. If he can cross the intermediate line with it, the pursuit is at an end. When one party has carried off to their ground all the wadds of the other the game is finished.

Waggles

A game of tip-cat. Four boys stand at the corners of a large paving-stone; two have sticks, the other two are feeders, and throw the piece of wood called a "cat." The batters act much in the same way as in cricket, except that the cat must be hit whilst in the air. The batter hits it as far away as possible, and whilst the feeder is fetching it, gets, if possible, a run, which counts to his side. If either of the cats fall to the ground both batters go out, and the feeders take their place. A game called "Whacks" is played in a similar way.-London Streets (F. H. Low, _Strand Magazine_, Nov. 1891).

See "Tip-cat."

Wallflowers

[Music]

-Nottingham (Miss Youngman).

[Music]

-Connell Ferry, near Oban (Miss Harrison).

[Music]