The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland Volume I Part 72

Down on this carpet you shall kneel While the gra.s.s grows in yonder field; Salute your bride and kiss her sweet, Rise again upon your feet.

-Hanging Heaton, Yorks. (H. Hardy).

II. King William was King David's son, All the royal race is run; Choose from the east, choose from the west, Choose the one that you love best; If she's not here to take her part, Choose another with all your heart.

-Sheffield (S. O. Addy).

(_b_) In Sheffield a ring of young men and women is formed. A man goes inside the ring and walks round within it, whilst the others sing the verse. The young man then chooses a sweetheart, and the two walk round arm-in-arm within the ring, whilst the same verses are sung. When the singing is ended, the girl picks a young man, and so they all pair off.

(_c_) Mr. Addy ent.i.tles this game "Kiss in the Ring." It appears, however, from this description to lack the two princ.i.p.al elements of most "kiss-in-the-ring" games-the chase between pursued and pursuer, and the kissing in the ring when the capture is made. In the Hanging Heaton version two children kneel and kiss in the middle of the ring. Mr.

Newell (_Games_, p. 73), in describing a game with a similar rhyme, mentions a version which had been sent him from Waterford, Ireland. He says, "We learn from an informant that in her town it was formerly played in this peculiar manner. Over the head of a girl who stood in the centre of a ring was held a shawl, sustained by four others grasping the corners." The game then proceeded as follows-

King William was King George's son, From the Bay of Biscay O!

Upon his breast he wore a star- Find your way to English schools.

Down on the carpet you must kneel; As the gra.s.s grows in the field, Salute your bride and kiss her sweet, And rise again upon your feet.

Then followed the game-rhyme, repeated with each stanza-

Go choose you east, go choose you west,

apparently the same as last four lines of Sheffield version. King William is then supposed to enter-

The first girl that I loved so dear, Can it be she's gone from me?

If she's not here when the night comes on, Will none of you tell me where she's gone?

He then recognises the disguised girl-

There's heart beneath the willow tree, There's no one here but my love and me.

"He had gone to the war, and promised to marry her when he came back.

She wrapped a shawl about her head to see if he would recognise her."

This was all the reciter could recollect; the lines of the ballad were sung by an old woman, the ring answering with the game-rhyme.

This version seems to indicate clearly that in this game we have preserved one of the ceremonies of a now obsolete marriage-custom-namely, the disguising of the bride and placing her among her bridesmaids and other young girls, all having veils or other coverings alike over their heads and bodies. The bridegroom has to select from among these maidens the girl whom he wished to marry, or whom he had already married, for until this was done he was not allowed to depart with his bride. This custom was continued in sport as one of the ceremonies to be gone through after the marriage was over, long after the custom itself was discontinued. For an instance of this see a "Rural Marriage in Lorraine," in _Folk-lore Record_, iii. 267-268. This ordeal occurs in more than one folk-tale, and it usually accompanies the incident of a youth having travelled for adventures, sometimes in quest of a bride. He succeeds in finding the whereabouts of the coveted girl, but before he is allowed by the father to take his bride away he is required to perform tasks, a final one being the choosing of the girl with whom he is in love from among others, all dressed alike and disguised. Our bridal veil may probably originate in this custom.

In the ballad from which Mr. Newell thinks the game may have originated, a maid has been given in marriage to another than her chosen lover. He rides to the ceremony with a troop of followers; the bride, seeing him approach, calls on her maidens to "take off her gold crown and coif her in linen white," to test her bridegroom's affection. This incident, I think, is not to test "affection," but the ordeal of recognising his bride, however disguised, and the fact that "the hero at once recognises his love, mounts with her on horseback, and flees to Norway," may be considered to support my view.

See also Brand, vol. ii. p. 141, under "Care Cloth."

King's Chair

Two children join hands, by crossing their arms, so as to form a seat. A third mounts on the crossed arms, and clasps the carriers round their necks, while they move on saying-

King, King Cairy (carry) London lairy, Milk an bread, In the King's chairie.

This game is played at Keith, without the words. The words are used at Fochabers.-Rev. W. Gregor.

Jamieson says, "Lothian children, while carrying one of their number in this manner, repeat the following rhyme-

Lend me a pin to stick i' my thumb, To carry the lady to London town."

He says this method of carrying is often used as a subst.i.tute for a chair in conveying adult persons from one place to another, especially when infirm. In other counties it is called "Queen's Cus.h.i.+on" and "Queen's Chair," also "Cat's Carriage."

Brockett (_North Country Words_) says, "'King's Cus.h.i.+on,' a sort of seat made by two persons crossing their hands, in which to place a third. The thrones on the reverses of the early Royal Seals of England and Scotland consist of swords, spears, snakes, &c., placed in the manner of a 'King's Cus.h.i.+on.'"

The method used is for both children to grasp the wrist of his left hand with the right, while he lays hold of the right wrist of his companion with his left hand. This way of hoisting or carrying is still used by schoolboys when they desire to honour a boy who has distinguished himself in the playground or schoolroom.

See "Carry my Lady to London."

Kirk the Gussie

A sort of play. The Gussie is a large ball, which one party endeavours to beat with clubs into a hole, while another party strives to drive it away. When the ball is lodged in the hole it is said to be "Kirkit."-Jamieson.

Kiss in the Ring

[Music]

-Nottingham (Miss Youngman).

[Music]

-Lancas.h.i.+re (Mrs. Harley).

[Music]

-Earls Heaton, Yorks. (H. Hardy).

I. I sent a letter to my love, And on the way I dropped it; And one of you have picked it up And put it in your pocket.

-Dorsets.h.i.+re (_Folk-lore Journal_, vii. 213); Penzance (Mrs. Mabbott).

II. I wrote a letter to my love, and on the way I lost it.

Some one has picked it up. Not you, not you (&c.), but you!

-Much Wenlock (_Shrops.h.i.+re Folk-lore_, p. 512).

III. I lost my supper last night, and the night before, And if I lose it this night, I shall never have it no more.

-Berrington (_Shrops.h.i.+re Folk-lore_, p. 512).

IV. I've come to borrow the riddle (= sieve), There's a big hole in the middle.

I've come to borrow the hatchet, Come after me and catch it.

-Chirbury (_Shrops.h.i.+re Folk-lore_, p. 512).