The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland Volume I Part 83

Left foot in and right foot out, Hink.u.mb.o.o.by round about; Fal de ral la, &c.

Heads in and backs out, Hink.u.mb.o.o.by round about; Fal de ral la, &c.

Backs in and heads out, Hink.u.mb.o.o.by round about; Fal de ral la, &c.

A' feet in and nae feet out, Hink.u.mb.o.o.by round about; Fal de ral la, &c.

Shake hands a', shake hands a', Hink.u.mb.o.o.by round about; Fal de ral la, &c.

Good night a', good night a', Hink.u.mb.o.o.by round about; Fal de ral la, &c.

-Chambers (_Popular Rhymes_, pp. 137-139).

IV. This is the way we wash our hands, Wash our hands, wash our hands, To come to school in the morning.

This is the way we wash our face, Wash our face, wash our face, To come to school in the morning.

Here we come dancing looby, Lewby, lewby, li.

Hold your right ear in, Hold your right ear out, Shake it a little, a little, And then turn round about.

Here we come dancing lewby, Lewby, lewby, li, &c.

-Eckington, Derbys.h.i.+re (S. O. Addy).

V. How do you luby lue, How do you luby lue, How do you luby lue, O'er the Sat.u.r.day night?

Put your right hand in, Put your right hand out, Shake it in the middle, And turn yourselves about.

-Lady C. Gurdon's Suffolk _County Folk-lore_, p. 64.

[Repeat this for "left hand," "right foot," "left foot," "heads," and "put yourselves in."]

VI. Can you dance looby, looby, Can you dance looby, looby, Can you dance looby, looby, All on a Friday night?

You put your right foot in, And then you take it out, And wag it, and wag it, and wag it, Then turn and turn about.

-Addy's _Sheffield Glossary_.

VII. Here we dance luby, luby, Here we dance luby light, Here we dance luby, luby, All on a Wednesday night.

-Ordsall, Nottinghams.h.i.+re (Miss Matthews).

VIII. Here we go lubin loo, Here we go lubin li, Here we go lubin loo, Upon a Christmas night.

-Epworth, Doncaster (C. C. Bell).

IX. Here we go looby loo, Here we go looby li, Here we go looby loo, All on a New-Year's night.

-Nottingham (Miss Winfield).

X. Here we come looby, looby, Here we come looby light, Here we come looby, looby, All on a Sat.u.r.day night.

-Belfast (W. H. Patterson).

XI. Here we come looping, looping [louping?], Looping all the night; I put my right foot in, I put my right foot out, I shake it a little, a little, And I turn myself about.

-Hexham (Miss J. Barker).

XII. Christian was a soldier, A soldier, a soldier, Christian was a soldier, and a brave one too.

Right hand in, right hand out, Shake it in the middle, and turn yourself about.

-Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews).

XIII. Friskee, friskee, I was and I was A-drinking of small beer.

Right arms in, right arms out, Shake yourselves a little, and little, And turn yourselves about.

-Cornwall (_Folk-lore Journal_, v. p. 49).

XIV. I love Antimaca.s.sar, Antimaca.s.sar loves me.

Put your left foot in, Put your right foot out, Shake it a little, a little, a little, And turn yourself about.

-Dorsets.h.i.+re (Miss M. Kimber).

(_b_) A ring is formed and the children dance round, singing the first verse. They then stand till, sing the next verse, and, while singing, suit the action to the word, each child turning herself rapidly round when singing the last line. The first verse is then repeated, and the fourth sung in the same way as the second, and so on.

Another way of playing is that the children do not dance round and round. They form a ring by joining hands, and they then all move in one direction, about half way round, while singing the first line, "lubin;"

then back again in the opposite direction, while singing the second line, "light," still keeping the ring form, and so on for the third and fourth lines. In each case the emphasis is laid upon the "Here" of each line, the movement being supposed to answer to the "Here."

The Dorsets.h.i.+re version (Miss M. Kimber) is played by the children taking hands in pairs, forming a ring, and dancing round. At Eckington (S. O. Addy) the children first pretend to wash their hands, then their face, while singing the words; then comb their hair and brush their clothes; then they join hands and dance round in a ring singing the words which follow, again suiting their actions to the words sung.

In the Scottish version a ring is formed as above. One sings, and the rest join, to the tune of "Lillibullero," the first line. As soon as this is concluded each claps his hand and wheels grotesquely, singing the second line. They then sing the third line, suiting the action to the word, still beating the time; then the second again, wheeling round and clapping hands. When they say "A' feet in, and nae feet out," they all sit down with their feet stretched into the centre of the ring.

(_c_) The other variants which follow the Halliwell version are limited to the first verse only, as the remainder of the lines are practically the same as those given in Miss Fowler's version which is written at length, and three or four of these apparently retain only the verse given. A London version, collected by myself, is nearly identical with that of Miss Fowler, except that the third line is "Shake your -- a little, a little," instead of as printed. This is sung to the tune given.

The incidents in this game are the same throughout. The only difference in all the versions I have collected being in the number of the different positions to be performed, most of them being for right hands, left hands, right feet, left feet, and heads; others, probably older forms, having "ears," "yourselves," &c. One version, from Eckington, Derbys.h.i.+re, curiously begins with "was.h.i.+ng hands and face," "combing hair," &c., and then continuing with the "Looby" game, an apparent "mix-up" of "Mulberry Bush" and "Looby." Three more versions, Sporle, Cornwall, and Dorsets.h.i.+re, also have different beginnings, one (Dorsets.h.i.+re) having the apparently unmeaning "I love Antimaca.s.sar."

(_d_) The origin and meaning of this game appears somewhat doubtful. It is a choral dance, and it may owe its origin to a custom of wild antic dancing in celebration of the rites of some deity in which animal postures were a.s.sumed. The Hexham version, "Here we come louping [leaping]" may probably be the oldest and original form, especially if the conjecture that this game is derived from animal rites is accepted.

The term "looby," "lubin," or "luby" does not throw much light on the game. Addy (_Sheffield Glossary_) says, "Looby is an old form of the modern 'lubber,' a 'clumsy fellow,' 'a dolt.'" That a stupid or ridiculous meaning is attached to the word "looby" is also shown by one of the old penances for redeeming a forfeit, where a player has to lie stretched out on his back and declare,

Here I lie The length of a looby, The breadth of a b.o.o.by, And three parts of a jacka.s.s.

The Scottish forms of the game bear on the theory of the game being grotesque. The fact of the players having both their arms extended at once, one behind and one in front of them, and the more frequent spinning round, suggest this. Then, too, there is the sudden "sit down"

posture, when "all feet in" is required.

In the version given by Halliwell there is more difficulty in the game, and possibly more fun. This version shows the game to be c.u.mulative, each player having to go through an additional antic for each verse sung. This idea only needs to be carried a little further to cause the players to be ridiculous in their appearance. This version would be more difficult to perform, and they would be exhausted by the process, and the constant motion of every member of the body. Attention, too, might be drawn to the word "Hink.u.mb.o.o.by" occurring in Chambers's version.

Newell (_Games_, p. 131) mentions that some sixty years ago the game was danced deliberately and decorously, as old fas.h.i.+on was, with slow rhythmical movement.