Part 17

This game without doubt is the most curious of our collection, both on account of its own quaintness, and because of the extraordinary relation in which it stands to the child's lore of Europe. We have, in a note, endeavored to show that our American versions give the most ancient and adequate representation now existing of a childish drama which has diverged into numerous branches, and of which almost every trait has set up for itself as an independent game. Several of these offshoots are centuries old, and exist in many European tongues; while, so far as appears, their original has best maintained itself in the childish tradition of the New World.

Among a great number of German forms, only one (from Suabia) nearly corresponds to ours, with the exception of a corrupted ending.

In this childish drama a mother has many children, who sleep. In her absence comes "Old Urschel" with her two daughters, the "Night-maidens" (a sort of fairies), who steal three children, and carry them off to their cave (hiding them behind their extended dresses). The mother visits Urschel's abode to complain of the theft, but the "Night-maidens," with deprecating gestures, deny any knowledge of the lost. The action is then repeated, the eldest daughter (who plays the same part as in our first version) being taken last.

When the mother's complaints are useless, she becomes a witch. The next day Urschel takes her stolen family for a walk. The mother comes up and pulls the dress of a child; by her magic art all feel it at the same time, and cry to Urschel, "Oh, mother, somebody is pulling my gown!" The latter replies, "It must be a dog." The mother then asks and obtains leave to join the party, but endeavors to bewitch (or disenchant) her children, who cry, "The Witch of London!" and scatter, but are captured by the latter and turned into witches.[142]

In Sweden the mother is called "Lady Sun." An old woman enters, propped on a cane, goes to Lady Sun's house and knocks. "Who is that knocking at my door?" "An old woman, halt and blind, asks the way to Lady Sun; is she at home?" "Yes." The old woman points out a child, and asks, "Dear Lady Sun, may I have a chicken?" She is refused at first, but by piteous entreaties obtains her wish, and returns, until all the "chickens" are carried off. "She was not so lame as she made believe," says Lady Sun, looking after her.

The antiquity of our game is sufficiently attested by the wide diffusion of many of its comparatively recent variations. We remark, further, that the idea of the child-eating demon, so prominently brought forward in our American versions, is a world-old nursery conception. The ancients were well acquainted with such feminine supernatural beings. "More fond of children than Gello," says Sappho, referring to an imaginary creature of the sort. The most ancient view of this passion for stealing children was, that it was prompted by the appetite. Tales of ogres and ogresses, who carried off and devoured young children, must have been as familiar in the Roman nursery as in our own.

The trait of _limping_, characteristic of "witches" in games, is equally ancient. That such demons are defective in one foot is expressed by the ancient Greek name "Empusa" (literally One-foot), to whom was attributed an ass's hoof, a representation which contributed to the mediæval idea of the devil. A child's game, in which a boy, armed with a knotted handkerchief, pursues his comrades, hopping on one foot, is known in France as "The Limping Devil."[143] This game existed also in ancient Greece.

The reanimation and recovery of the children, with which the American performance closes, is a familiar trait of ancient nursery tales.

No. 155.

_The Ogree's Coop._

Half a century since, in eastern Massachusetts, it was a pastime of boys and girls for one of the number to impersonate an _Ogree_[144] (as the word was pronounced), who caught his playmates, put them in a coop, and fattened them for domestic consumption. From time to time the Ogree felt his captives to ascertain if they were fat enough to be cooked. Now and then a little boy would thrust from between the bars of his cage a stick instead of a finger, whereupon the ogree would be satisfied of his leanness.

No. 156.

_Tom Tidler's Ground._

A boundary line marks out "Tom Tidler's Ground," on which stands a player. The rest intrude on the forbidden precinct, but if touched must take his place. The words of the challenge are--

I'm on Tommy Tidler's ground, Picking up gold and silver.

Or, dialectically, "_Tickler's_ not at home."

This Eldorado has many different local names--_Van Diemen's land_ in Connecticut; _Dixie's land_ in New York, an expression which antedates the war; _Judge Jeffrey's land_, in Devonshire, England; _Golden Pavement_, in Philadelphia.

In the Southern States, "Tommy Tidler's Ground" is the name of the spot where the rainbow rests, and where it is supposed by children that a pot of gold is buried. A highly intelligent Georgian assures us that as a boy he has often searched for the treasure, but could never find the spot where the rainbow touched the ground.

"Tommy Tidler" represents the jealous fairy or dwarf who attacks any who approach his treasure.

No. 157.

_Dixie's Land._

This is a variety of the last game, in which a monarch instead of a fairy is the owner of the ground trespassed upon. A line having been drawn, to bound "Dixie's Land," the players cross the frontier with the challenge:

On Dixie's land I'll take my stand, And live and die in Dixie.

The king of Dixie's Land endeavors to seize an invader, whom he must hold long enough to repeat the words,

Ten times one are ten, You are one of my men.

All so captured must assist the king in taking the rest.

The word "man" seems to be used in the ancient sense of subject, as in the Scotch formula, where one boy takes another by the forelock (a reminiscence of serfdom), saying,

Tappie, tappie, tousie, will you be my man?

The game is played in much the same manner in Germany, with a rhyme which may be translated:

King, I'm standing on your land, I steal your gold and silver-sand.

No. 158.

_Ghost in the Cellar._

One of the children represents a ghost, and conceals himself in the cellar. Another takes the part of a mother, who is addressed by one of her numerous family:

"Mother, I see a ghost." "It was only your father's coat hanging up."

Mother goes down with a match. Ghost appears. Terror and flight. Whoever is caught becomes the ghost for the next turn.

A similar game is played in London, called (we are told) "Ghost in the Copper."

The original of the "ghost" appears in the corresponding German game, where we find in his stead the "evil spirit," who haunts the garden.

No. 159.

_The Enchanted Princess._

This interesting European game, though never naturalized in this country, has been occasionally played as a literal translation from the printed French. A little girl raises above her head her frock, which is sustained by her companions, who thus represent the tower in which she is supposed to be confined. The "enemy" comes up, and asks, "Where is pretty Margaret?" The answer is, "She is shut up in her tower." The "enemy" carries off one by one the stones of the tower (leads away, that is, the girls who personate stones), until one only is left, who drops the frock, and flies, pursued by Margaret, who must catch some one to replace her.

The celebrated French song begins, "Where is fair Margaret, Ogier, noble knight?"[145] "Ogier" is none other than Olger the Dane, hero of mediæval romance. The childish drama is one form of the world-old history of a maiden who is delivered by a champion from the enchanted castle. In the territory of Cambrai, she who is shut up in the tower is said to be "the fair one with the golden locks." We consider the following number to be a variation of the same theme.

No. 160.

_The Sleeping Beauty._

About fifty years since, in a town of Massachusetts (Wrentham), the young people were in the habit of playing an exceedingly rustic kissing-game. A girl in the centre of the ring simulated sleep, and the words were--

There was a young lady sat down to sleep; She wants a young gentleman to wake her up; Mr. ---- ---- shall be his name.

The awakening was then effected by a kiss.

The same game comes to us as a negro sport from Galveston, Texas, but in a form which shows it to be the corruption of an old English round:

Here we go round the _strawberry bush_, This cold and frosty morning.

Here's a young lady sat down to sleep, This cold and frosty morning.

She wants a young gentleman to wake her up, This cold and frosty morning.

Write his name and send it by me, This cold and frosty morning.

Mr. ---- his name is called, This cold and frosty morning.

Arise, arise, upon your feet, This cold and frosty morning.

Some unintelligible negro rhymes follow.

The refrain of the last version indicates that it is of old English origin, and was used as a May-game.

It would appear, from the character of the round, that various names are proposed to the sleeping girl, which she rejects until a satisfactory one is presented. At all events, this is the case in a Provençal game which we take to be of the same origin as ours. In this game it is explained that the girl is not asleep, but counterfeiting death. "Alas! what shall we give our sister? N. N. to be her husband."

A favorite French round describes the maiden as asleep "in the tower." The pretty song represents her as awakened by the rose her lover has left upon her breast. Though there is no very close resemblance between this and the Provençal game, the same idea of deliverance from enchantment appears to underlie both.

We infer, therefore, that the game, apparently so natural an invention, originally represented some form of the world-wide story of the "Sleeping Beauty." If this be so, to explain its history would lead us to write of Northern lay and mediæval legend; we should have to examine the natural symbolism of primitive religions, and the loves of ancient gods. The kissing-romp of a New England village would be connected with the poetry and romance of half the world.

In any case, this interlinking of the New World with all countries and ages, by the golden network of oral tradition, may supply the moral of our collection.

FOOTNOTES:

[127] Die Holländisch' Brück'.

[128] Mrs. R. W. Emerson, of Concord, Mass.

[129] From Prof. G. J. Webb, now of New York, who learned it from his mother, in the Isle of Wight, his birthplace.

[130] As the last verse is sung, the raised arms of the two directors of the game descend, and enclose the child who happens to be passing at the time. The prisoner is then led, still confined by the arms of her captors, to the corner which represents the prison. After this she must choose as described on page 204, and the two sides finally pull against each other. Our informant well remembers how seriously the matter was taken, and how disturbed and disgraced she felt when arrested and imprisoned.

[131] We have obtained a nearly identical, but more fragmentary version from Waterford, Ireland, with a refrain that seems a corruption of that belonging to the ordinary English song; thus--

London Bridge is broken down, _Fair lady!_ How shall we build it up again? _Grand says the little dear._

We have also, from an Irish domestic, a most curious account of the use of the latter version in the town named. Agreeing, as it does, in essential respects with the character which the European game now possesses, and which the English game once evidently possessed, we do not doubt its general correctness; but we have had no opportunity to verify the statement of the somewhat inconsequent informant.

An actual bridge was built up with sticks and boards, and surrounded by the ring of players, dressed in costume; without stood the Devil. Little girls in variously colored dresses represented the angels.

The repeated fall and rebuilding of the bridge was acted out, as described in the verses of the song; this fall was ascribed to the malice of the Devil, who ruined it _during the night_ (watching it, said the narrator, from the top of an ash-tree during the day).

The imprisonment of the child enclosed by the arms of the leaders was acted out as described in the note on page 208, but in a noteworthy fashion. A chain was taken, and wrapped round the child, in the form of a serpent (for the Devil _is_ a serpent, said the reciter); the captive was taken to a hut (representing apparently the entrance to the Inferno) built by the sea. Meantime, the rest of the train called on their leader for help; but he answered, "the Devil has five feet, and thirteen eyes, and is stronger than I!" The performance lasted five hours; and the name of the edifice was the Devil's Bridge.

In this Irish game, tests were employed to determine whether the captive should belong to the Devil or not. One of these was the ability to walk on a straight line drawn on the ground.

On the windows of French mediæval churches devils may be seen surrounding the condemned with a great chain, which they use to drag them into their clutches.

[132] Or, his _wife_.

[133]

À l'épayelle (that is, in the _basket_) Tout du long de ciel, Tout du long du paradis, Saut'! Saut'! Saut souris!

[134] See No. 154, E, and note.

[135] Game of New York German children: "Wer ist daraus?" "Der Engel mit dem goldenen Strauss." "Was will er?" "Eine Farbe." "Was für eine?" "Blau," etc. Then "Der Engel mit dem Feuerhaken" comes forward, and so on, "bis alle Farben fort sind."

[136] An imitation of knocking. Italian, Din-din; French, pan! pan! etc.

[137] The dialogue is: "Pan! pan!" "Qui est-ce qui est la?" "C'est le diable avec sa fourche." "Que veut-il?" "Un animal." "Entrez."

[138] A line and a half are wanting.

[139]

"I charge my daughters every one, To keep good house while I am gone. _You_ and _you_ [points] but specially _Sue_, Or else I'll beat you black and blue."

From "Nursery Rhymes of England," where it is said to be a game of the Gypsy, who "during the mother's absence comes in, entices a child away, and hides her. This process is repeated till all the children are hidden, when the mother has to find them."

[140] This verse is borrowed from another game, No. 102. The drama opens with a foreboding. The prophetic soul of the mother uses the lament of a hen who has lost one of her brood.

[141] Or any elevated position. Also, _in heaven_.

[142] This Urschel is a mythologic character. When the children of Pfüllingen climb the Urschelberg, where she lives, each child deposits on a certain stone two or three horn buttons as an offering. On returning, they observe whether she has not taken them away; and, even if the buttons remain, they are sure that she has taken pleasure in them. When they pass a certain slope they roll down perforated stones (called "suns"), and the child whose "sun" rolls farthest says with pride, "Urschel liked my present best."

Urschel passes for an enchanted maiden, whose original name was Prisca. Every four centuries she plants a beech-tree for the cradle of the youth whose love is at last to release her. The chosen shepherd sees her sitting by the road-side, in the shape of an old woman, dressed in green gown and red stockings. But none has ever dared to wed her for the sake of the castle and treasure she offers.

[143] "Le Diable Boîteux."

[144] "An Ogree is a giant with long teeth and claws, with a Raw Head and Bloody Bones, and runs away with naughty boys and girls, and eats them all up."--Story of the "Sleeping Beauty," as given in an old chap-book.

[145]

Où est la belle Marguerite, Ogier, beau chevalier?

APPENDIX

COLLECTIONS OF CHILDREN'S GAMES.

The following is a list of collections of popular games of children, or collections containing such, consulted in preparing the present volume, and referred to in the notes by the names of the editors:

BRAND, J. Popular Antiquities of Great Britain. With corrections and additions by W. Carew Hazlitt. (Lond. 1870, 3 vols.) The same, arranged and revised by Henry Ellis. (Lond. 1813, 2 vols.; new ed. 1849.)

CHAMBERS, R. Popular Rhymes of Scotland. (New ed. Edinb. 1870; 1st ed. 1842.)

HALLIWELL [PHILLIPS], J. O. The Nursery Rhymes of England. (6th ed. Lond. 1860; 1st ed. 1842; 2d ed. 1843.)

Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales. (Lond. 1849.)

STRUTT, J. The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England. (Lond. 1801.)

* * * * *

BELÈZE, G. Jeux des Adolescents. (Paris, 1873.)

BUJEAUD, J. Chants et Chansons Populaires des Provinces de l'Ouest. (Niort, 1866, 2 vols.)

CELNART, MADAME. Manuel Complet des Jeux de Société. (2d ed. Paris, 1830.)

CHABREUL, MADAME DE. Jeux et Exercises des Jeunes Filles. (2d ed. Paris, 1860.)

DUMERSAN, M. Chansons et Rondes Enfantines. (Paris, 1858.)

DURIEUX, A., and BRUYELLE, A. Chants et Chansons Pop. du Cambresis. (Cambrai, 1864-68, 2 vols.)

GAGNON, E. Chansons Pop. du Canada. (Quebec, 1880.)

GAIDOZ, H., and ROLLAND, E. Mélusine. Recueil de Myth., Lit Pop., Trad., et Usages. (Paris, 1878.)

KUHFF, P. Les Enfantines du Bon Pays de France. (Paris, 1878.)

PUYMAIGRE, T. J. B. DE. Chants Pop. Rec. dans le Pays Messin. (Paris, 1865; 2d ed. 1881.)

TARBÉ, P. Romancero de Champagne. (Reims, 1843, 5 vols.)

* * * * *

ARBAUD, D. Chants Pop. de la Provence. (Aix, 1862. 2 vols.)

MONTEL, A., and LAMBERT, L. Chants Pop. du Languedoc. (Paris, 1880.)

* * * * *

COELHO, F. A. Romances Pop. e Rimas Infantís Portuguezes. (Zeit. f. Rom. Phil. vol. iii. 1879.)

MARIN, F. R. Cantos Pop. Españoles, Tomo 1. Rimas Infantiles. (Sevilla, 1882.)

MASPONS Y LABRÓS, F. Jochs de la Infancia. (Barcelona, 1874.)

VILLABRILLE, F. Los Juegos de la Infancia. (Madrid, 1847.) Contains little of a popular character.

* * * * *

BERNONI, G. Guiochi Pop. Veneziani. (Venezia, 1874.)

CORAZZINI, F. I Componimenti Minori della Letteratura Pop. Ital. (Benevento, 1877.)

DALMEDICO A. Ninne-nanne e Guiochi Infantili Veneziani. (Venezia, 1871.)

FERRARO, G. Canti Pop. di Ferrara, etc. (Ferrara, 1877.)

Cinquanta Guiochi Fanciulleschi Monferrini. In Archivio per lo Studio delle Trad. Pop. G. Pitrè, S. Salomone-Mario. Fasc. I., II. (Palermo, 1882.)

GIANANDREA, A. S. Saggio di Guiochi e Canti fanciulleschi delle Marche. In Vol. I. of Rivista di Letteratura Pop., G. Pitrè, F. Sabatini. (Roma, 1877.)

IMBRIANI, V. Canti Pop. Avellinesi. (Bologna, 1874.)

Canzonetti Infantili Pomiglianesi. In Vol. X. of Il Propugnatore. (Bologna, 1877.)

IVE, A. Canti Pop. Istriani. In Vol. V. of Canti e Racconti del Pop. Ital., D. Comparetti and A. D'Ancona. (Torino, 1877.)

PITRÈ, G. Canti Pop. Siciliani. (Palermo, 1870-71, 2 vols.)

* * * * *

COUSSEMAKER, C. E. DE. Chants Pop. des Flamands de France. (Gand, 1856.)

HOFFMANN VON FALLERSLEBEN, A. H. Horae Belgicae. (2d Aus. Hannover, 1866.)

LOOTENS, A., and FEYS, J. Chants Pop. Flamands rec. à Bruges. (Bruges, 1879.)

WILLEMS, J. F. Oude Vlaemsche Liederen. (Gent, 1848.)

* * * * *

Aus dem Kinderleben, Spiele, Reime, Räthsel. (Oldenburg, 1851.)

Baslerische Kinder-und Volks-Reime. (Basel, 187-.)

BIRLINGER, A. Nimm mich mit! Kinderbüchlein. (Freiburg, 1871.)

DUNGER, H. Kinderlieder und Kinderspiele aus dem Vogtlande. (Plauen, 1874.)

FEIFALIK, J. Kinderreime und Kinderspiele aus Mähren. (Zeit. f. deutsch Myth., Vol. IV.)

FIEDLER, E. Volksreime und Volkslieder in Anhalt Dessau. (Dessau, 1847.)

FRISCHBIER, H. Preussische Volksreime und Volksspiele. (Berlin, 1867.)

HANDELMANN, H. Volks-und Kinder-Spiele aus Schleswig-Holstein. (Kiel, 1874.)

KEHREIN, J. Volkssprache und Volkssitte im Herzogthum Nassau. (Weilburg, 1862, 2 vols.)

MANNHARDT, W. Germanische Mythen. (Berlin, 1858.)

MEIER, E. Deutsche Kinderreime und Kinderspiele aus Schwaben. (Tübingen, 1851.)

MULLENHOFF, K. Sagen, Märchen, und Lieder d. Herzogthümer Schleswig-Holstein und Lauenburg. (Kiel, 1845.)

PETER, A. Volkstümliches aus Österreichisch-Schlesien. (Troppau, 1867, 2 vols.)

ROCHHOLZ, E. L. Alemannisches Kinderlied und Kinderspiel. (Leipzig, 1857.)

SCHUSTER, F. W. Siebenbürgisch-Sächsische Volkslieder. (Herrmannstadt, 1865.)

SIMROCK, K. Das deutsche Kinderbuch. (Frankfurt am Main, 1857.)

STOEBER, A. Elsässisches Volksbüchlein. (Strasburg, 1842.)

VERNALEBEN, T., and BRANKY, F. Spiele und Reime der Kinder in Oesterreich. (Wien, 1873.)

Wiegenlieder, Ammenreime und Kinderstuben-Scherze in plattdeutscher Mundart. (Bremen, 1859.)

Zeitschrift für deutsche Myth. und Sittenkunde, I.-IV. (Göttingen, 1853-59.)

ZINGERLE, J. V. Das deutsche Kinderspiel im Mittelalter. (2d ed. Innsbruck, 1873.)

* * * * *

ARWIDDSON, A. I. Svenska Fornsånger. (Stockholm, 1842, 3 vols.)

DJURKLOU, G. Ur Nerike's Folkspråk och Folklif. (Örebro, 1860.)

DYBECK, R. Runa, En Skrift för fädernes-landets fornvänner. (Stockholm, 1842-49.)

GRUNDTVIG SVEND. Gamle Danske Minder i Folkemunde. (Copenhagen, 1854. New Series, 1857.)

Danske Folkeminder. (Copenhagen, 1861.)

HAMMERSHAIMB, V. U. Faeröiske Skikke og Lege. (Antiquarisk Tidsskrift, Copenhagen 1849-51.)

THIELE, J. M. Danske Folkesagn. (Copenhagen, 1820-23, 4 vols.)

WIGSTROM, EVA. Folkdiktning. (Copenhagen, 1880.)

* * * * *

BEZSONOFF, A. Dyetskia Pyesni. Songs of (Russian) Children. (Moscow, 1868.)

MOZAROWSKI, A. Svyatochnoia Pyesni. Christmas Games of the Government of Kazan (Kazan, 1873.)

VRCEVIC, V. Sprske Narodne Igre. Servian Popular Games (Belgrade, 1868.)

* * * * *

NEUS, H. Ehstnische Volkslieder. (Reval, 1850.)

COMPARISONS AND REFERENCES.

The object of the following notes is to exhibit, in a clear manner, the extent of the correspondence between the games of American children and those belonging to children in other countries. This volume is not intended to include all games of children, but (with some exceptions in favor of certain amusements which possess interest as folk-lore) only such as are played with words or quaint formulas. Of games of this class, we find in the collections very few known to children in Great Britain, and possessing European diffusion, which are not represented in this series by independent American versions (see No. 160, note, end). With these exceptions, the British game-formulas to which American usage does not offer equivalents are local and of trifling interest. The references given below may, therefore, be considered as a comparative account of English children's games in general.