The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland Volume Ii Part 80

Don't steal any of my fat chicks.

I stole one last night And gave it a little hay, There came a little blackbird, And carried it away.

-Bocking, Ess.e.x (_Folk-lore Record_, iii. 170).

IX. Who's that round my stable door [or stony wall]?

Only little Jack and Jingo.

Don't you steal any of my fat pigs!

I stole one last night and the night before, Chick, chick, come along with me.

-Deptford, Kent (Miss Chase).

X. Who's this walking round my stony gravel path?

Only little Jacky Jingle.

Last night he stole one of my sheep, Put him in the fold, Along came a blackbird, and pecked off his nose.

-Hamps.h.i.+re (Miss Mendham).

XI. Who is going round my fine stony house?

Only Daddy Dingo.

Don't take any of my fine chicks.

Only this one, O!

-Ellesmere (Burne's _Shrops.h.i.+re Folk-lore_, p. 520).

XII. Who is that walking round my stone-wall?

Only little Johnnie Nero.

Well, don't you steal any of my fat sheep!

I stole one last night and gave it a lock of hay, Here come I to take another away.

-Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews).

XIII. Who's that going round my pretty garden?

Only Jacky Jingo.

Don't you steal any of my fat sheep!

Oh, no I won't; oh, yes I will; and if I do I'll take them one by one, so out comes Jacky Jingo.

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

XIV. Who's going round my sheepfold?

Only poor Jack Lingo.

Don't steal any of my black sheep!

No, I won't, only buy one.

-Roxton, St. Neots (Miss E. Lumley).

XV. Who goes round my house this night?

None but Limping Tom.

Do you want any of my chickens this night?

None but this poor one.

-Macduff (Rev. W. Gregor).

XVI. Who goes round my house this night?

Who but b.l.o.o.d.y Tom!

Who stole all my chickens away?

None but this poor one.

-Chambers's _Pop. Rhymes_, 122.

XVII. Who goes round the house at night?

None but b.l.o.o.d.y Tom.

Tack care an' tack nane o' my chickens awa'!

None but this poor one.

-Keith (Rev. W. Gregor).

XVIII. Johnny, Johnny Ringo, Don't steal all my faun sheep.

n.o.b but one by one, Whaul they're all done.

-Easther's _Almondbury Glossary_.

XIX. Who's going round my stone wall?

Only an old witch.

Don't take any of my bad chickens!

No, only this one.

-Hanbury, Staffs. (Miss E. Hollis).

(_b_) The players stand in a circle, but they do not necessarily hold hands, nor do they move round. One player kneels or stands in the centre, and another walks round outside the circle. The child in the centre asks the questions, and the child outside (Johnny Lingo) replies.

When the last answer is given, the outside player, or Johnny Lingo, touches one of the circle on the back; this player, without speaking, then follows Johnny Lingo and stands behind her holding her by her dress, or round the waist. The dialogue is then repeated, and another child taken. This is continued until all the circle are behind Johnny Lingo. Then the child in the centre tries to catch one of them, and Johnny Lingo tries to prevent it; as soon as one player is caught she stands aside, and when all are caught the game is over.

This is the usual way of playing. The variations are: in Galloway, Enbourne, Keith, and Hanbury, the centre player shuts her eyes, or is blindfolded. In the Almondbury version, when the centre child gets up to look for his sheep, and finds them (they do not stand behind Johnny Ringo, but hide), they run about "baaing;" when he catches them he pretends to cut their heads off. In Chambers's description of the game, all the players except two sit upon the ground in a circle (sitting or lying down also obtains at Barnes), one of the two stands inside, and the other personates "b.l.o.o.d.y Tom." b.l.o.o.d.y Tom tries to carry off a player after the dialogue has been said, and the centre child tries to prevent this one from being taken, and the rest of the circle "cower more closely round him." In the Macduff version, when all the players have been taken, the centre child runs about crying, "Where are all my chickens?" Some of the "chickens," on hearing this, try to run away from "Limping Tom" to her, and he tries to prevent them. He puts them all behind him in single file, and the centre child then tries to catch them; when she catches them all she becomes Limping Tom, and he the shepherd or hen. Dr. Gregor says (Keith)-The game is generally played by boys; the keeper kneels or sits in the middle of the circle; when all the sheep are gone, and he gets no answers to his questions, he crawls away still blindfolded, and searches for the lost sheep. The first player he finds becomes keeper, and he becomes b.l.o.o.d.y Tom. In the Winterton version (No. I.) there is a further dialogue. The game is played in the usual way at the beginning. When Jacko Lingo says, "Follow me" (he had previously, when saying one by one and two by two, &c., touched three children on their back in turn), the third one touched leaves the ring, and stands behind him holding his clothes or waist.

This is done until all the children forming the circle are holding on behind him. The child in the centre then asks the next question. When she says, "Here's my black sheep," she tries to dodge behind Jacky Lingo, and catch the child behind him. When she has done this she begins again at "Have you seen anything of my black sheep," until she has caught all the children behind Jacky Lingo. In two versions, Deptford and Bocking, there is no mention of a player being in the centre, but this is an obvious necessity unless the second player stands also outside the circle. In the Raunds version the ring moves slowly round.

In the Hants version (Miss Mendham) the children sit in a line. The thief takes one at a time and hides them, and the shepherd pulls them out of their hiding-places. In the Shrops.h.i.+re game, the chickens crouch down behind their mother, holding her gown, and the fox walks round them.

(_c_) This game appears to represent a village (by the players standing still in circle form), and from the dialogue the children not only represent the village, but sheep or chickens belonging to it. The other two players are-one a watchman or shepherd, and the other a wolf, fox, or other depredatory animal. The sheep may possibly be supposed to be in the pound or fold; the thief comes over the boundaries from a neighbouring village or forest to steal the sheep at night; the watchman or shepherd, although at first apparently deceived by the wolf, discovers the loss, and a fight ensues, in which the thief gets the worse, and some of the animals, if not all, are supposed to be recovered. The names used in the game,-pen pound, pinfold, fold, stone wall, sunny wall, sandy path, gravel path, sheep fold, garden, house, are all indications that a village and its surroundings is intended to be represented, and this game differs in that respect from the ordinary Fox and Geese and Hen and Chickens games, in which no mention is made of these.

Halliwell records two versions (_Nursery Rhymes_, pp. 61, 68). The words and method of playing are the same as some of those recorded above.

There is also a version in _Suffolk County Folk-lore_, pp. 65, 66, which beginning with "Who's going round my little stony wall?" after the sheep are all stolen, continues with a dialogue, which forms a part of the game of "Witch." The Rev. W. S. Sykes sends one from Settle, Yorks.h.i.+re, the words of which are the same as No. XIV., except that the last line has "just one" instead of "buy one." Mr. Newell gives a version played by American children.

Widow

I. One poor widder all left alone, Only one daughter to marry at home, Chews [choose] for the worst, and chews for the best, And chews the one that yew [you] love best.

Now you're married, I wish ye good joy, Ivery year a gal or a boy!

If one 'out dew, ye must hev tew, So pray, young couple, kiss te'gither.

-Swaffham, Norfolk (Miss Matthews).