The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland Volume I Part 8

-Belfast (W. H. Patterson).

IV. Up the plain and down the plain, As stippy [slippery] as a gla.s.s, We will go to Mrs. -- To find a pretty la.s.s.

[Annie] with her rosy cheeks, Catch her if you can, And if you cannot catch her I'll tell you who's the man.

[Annie] made a pudding, She made it very sweet; She daren't stick a knife in Till George came home at neet [night].

Taste [George], taste, and don't say Nay!

Perhaps to-morrow morning'll be our wedding day.

[The bells shall ring, and we shall sing, And all clap hands together.][2]

-Earls Heaton (Herbert Hardy).

(_b_) A full description of this game could not be obtained in each case. The Earls Heaton game is played by forming a ring, one child standing in the centre. After the first verse is sung, a child from the ring goes to the one in the centre. Then the rest of the verses are sung. The action to suit the words of the verses does not seem to have been kept up. In the Hamps.h.i.+re version, after the line "As a bird upon a tree," the two children named pair off like sweethearts while the rest of the verse is being sung.

(_c_) The a.n.a.lysis of the game rhymes is as follows:-

+---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ Hants. Deptford (Kent). Belfast. +---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ 1. Village life. Village life. Hunting life. 2. All the boys happy. All the boys happy. All l.u.s.ty bachelors. 3. Except [ ], who Except [ ], who Except [ ], who wants a wife. wants a wife. courts [ ]. 4. He shall court [ ]. He shall court [ ]. He courted [ ]. 5. Huddles and cuddles, Kisses and cuddles, Huggled andguggled, and sits on his knee. and sits on his knee. and took on his knee. 6. - - - 7. Mutual expressions of Mutual expressions of - love. love. 8. - - Asking to marry. 9. Wife makes a pudding. Girl makes a pudding. Girl makes a pudding. 10. Husband cuts a slice. Boy cuts a slice. Asks boy to taste. 11. Fixing of wedding day. Fixing of wedding day. Fixing of wedding day. 12. Wife in carriage, Wife with domestic Bride with rings on husband in cart. utensils. fingers and bells on toes. 13. - Grief if wife should - die. 14. - - Bride with a baby. 15. - Doctor, cat, and - devil. 16. - - Applause for the bride. +---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

+---+----------------------+ Earls Heaton (Yorks.). +---+----------------------+ 1. Roving life. 2. - 3. - 4. Seeks for a bride. 5. - 6. Catch the bride. 7. - 8. - 9. Girl makes a pudding. 10. Asks boy to taste. 11. Fixing of wedding day. 12. - 13. - 14. - 15. - 16. Applause for bride. +---+----------------------+

It appears by the a.n.a.lysis that all the incidents of the Hants version of this game occur in one or other of the versions, and these incidents therefore may probably be typical of the game. This view would exclude the important incidents of bride capture in the Earls Heaton version; the bride having a baby in the Belfast version, and the two minor incidents in the Deptford version (Nos. 13 and 15 in the a.n.a.lysis), which are obviously supplemental. Chambers, in his _Popular Rhymes of Scotland_, pp. 119, 137, gives two versions of a courts.h.i.+p dance which are not unlike the words of this game, though they do not contain the princ.i.p.al incidents. Northall, in his _English Folk Rhymes_, p. 363, has some verses of a similar import, but not those of the game. W. Allingham seems to have used this rhyme as the commencement of one of his ballads, "Up the airy mountain."

(_d_) The game is clearly a marriage game. It introduces two important details in the betrothal ceremony, inasmuch as the "huddling and cuddling" is typical of the rude customs at marriage ceremonies once prevalent in Yorks.h.i.+re, the northern counties, and Wales, while the making of the pudding by the bride and the subsequent eating together, are clearly a.n.a.logies to the bridal-cake ceremony. In Wales, the custom known as "bundling" allowed the betrothing parties to go to bed in their clothes (Brand, ii. 98). In Yorks.h.i.+re, the bridal cake was always made by the bride. The rudeness of the dialogue seems to be remarkably noticeable in this game.

See "Mary mixed a Pudding up," "Oliver, Oliver, follow the King."

[1] Miss Chase says, "I think the order of verses is right; the children hesitated a little."

[2] Mr. Hardy says, "This was sung to me by a girl at Earls Heaton or Soothill Nether. Another version commences with the last verse, continues with the first, and concludes with the second. The last two lines inserted here belong to that version."

All the Fishes in the Sea

A Suffolk game, not described.-Moor's _Suffolk Glossary_. See "Fool, fool, come to School," "Little Dog, I call you."

All the Soldiers in the Town

[Music]

All the soldiers in the town, They all bop down.

-Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews).

The children form into a ring and sing the above words. They "bop down"

at the close of the verse. To "bop" means in the Suffolk dialect "to stoop or bow the head."-Moor.

Allicomgreenzie

A little amusing game played by young girls at country schools. The same as "Drop Handkerchief," except that the penalty for not following exactly the course of the child pursued is to "stand in the circle, face out, all the game afterwards; if she succeed in catching the one, the one caught must so stand, and the other take up the cap and go round as before" (Mactaggart's _Gallovidian Encyclopaedia_). No explanation is given of the name of this game.

See "Drop Handkerchief."

Alligoshee

I. Betsy Blue came all in black, Silver b.u.t.tons down her back.

Every b.u.t.ton cost a crown, Every lady turn around.

Alligos.h.i.+, alligoshee, Turn the bridle over my knee.

-Middleton (Burne's _Shrops.h.i.+re Folk-lore_, p. 523).

II. Barbara, Barbara, dressed in black, Silver b.u.t.tons all up your back.

Allee-go-shee, allee-go-shee, Turn the bridle over me.

-Sheps...o...b.., Gloucesters.h.i.+re (Miss Mendham).

III. All-i-go-shee, alligoshee, Turn the bridle over my knee.

My little man is gone to sea, When he comes back he'll marry me.

-Warwicks.h.i.+re (Northall's _Folk Rhymes_, p. 394).

IV. Darby's son was dressed in black, With silver b.u.t.tons down his back.

Knee by knee, and foot by foot, Turn about lady under the bush.

-Hersham, Surrey (_Folk-lore Record_, v. 87).

V. Darby and Joan were dressed in black, Sword and buckle behind their back.

Foot for foot, and knee for knee, Turn about Darby's company.

-Halliwell's _Nursery Rhymes_, p. 121.

(_b_) The children form pairs, one pair following the other, with their arms linked behind. While the first four lines are repeated by all, they skip forward, and then skip back again. At the end of the last line they turn themselves about without loosing hands.

(_c_) Miss Burne includes this among obscure and archaic games, and Halliwell-Phillips mentions it as a marching game. The three first versions have something of the nature of an incantation, while the fourth and fifth versions may probably belong to another game altogether. It is not clear from the great variation in the verses to which cla.s.s the game belongs.

Almonds and Reasons

An old English game undescribed.-_Useful Transactions in Philosophy_, 1709, p. 43.

Angel and Devil

One child is called the "Angel," another child the "Devil," and a third child the "Minder." The children are given the names of colours by the Minder. Then the Angel comes over and knocks, when the following dialogue takes place.