Part 19

141. _German_, names of "marbles." "Schnell-Kügelchen" (15th century), "Schusser," "Löper," also "Marmeln," the latter when made of marble. A MS. of the 15th century mentions "the yellow glass used for the little yellow balls with which schoolboys play, and which are very cheap," Rochholz, p. 421.--Playing marbles (_kluckern_) in the streets was forbidden on pain of torture, by the Reformers in Zurich, A.D. 1530.--The general name in North Friesland is "Rollkugle," "rollballs."--_French_ name, "_billes;_" see Celnart and Belèze for description of games. The game of Roman boys with nuts, from which marbles is probably derived, is still played in the Netherlands, Hor. Belg., vi. 182. Nuts are also used instead of marbles in Italy, Gianandrea, No. 20.

142. Strutt, p. 86, "Tip-cat." Brand, ii. 303, "Kit-cat." The game, which is played in _Hindostan_, N. and Q., 4th ser. IV. 93, may probably have made its way into Europe from the East.--_German_, Handelmann, p. 89, "Kipseln." Vernaleken, p. 29, "Titschkerln."--_Italian_, Bernoni, p. 81; p. 82, "Chiba e Cheba."

143. Brand, ii. 305.

144. (a) _German_, Rochholz, p. 426. Vernaleken, p. 25.--_French_, Celnart, p. 379, "La Fossette aux Noyaux," played with cherry-stones or plum-stones. The fillip given to the stone is called _poguer_, poke. Froissart appears to allude to this game, (b) Also ancient.--_Italian_, Gianandrea, No. 20, "Battemuro."

145. _German_, Handelmann, p. 92, "Kaak."--_Italian_, Gianandrea, No. 17, "La Checca."

146. Strutt, p. 266. Brand, ii. 330, "Scotch-hoppers" mentioned A.D. 1677.--_German_, Vernaleken, p. 38, "Tempelhupfen."--_Italian_, Bernoni, p. 84, "El Campanon."--_French_, Celnart, p. 379, "La Marelle."--_Hindostan_, N. and Q., 4th ser. IV. 93.

147. _German_, Handelmann, p. 96, "Stickmest."

148. Though played in Great Britain, the game is not (so far as we know) mentioned by writers.--_French_, Celnart, p. 375 f., "Les Osselets."--_Spanish_, Marin, pp. 80-95, 150-159, "Juego de las Chinas," "Game of the Stones."--_German_, Meier, p. 145.--_Japanese_, Tedama, "Hand-balls."

149. Rhymes for counting out are used throughout Europe, and examples could be cited of types corresponding to most of the English forms, and sometimes evidently related. Peculiar is the usage in Spain, where the syllables are told off alternately on the closed hands of a player, who holds a pebble; if the last syllable falls on the hand containing the stone, the lad proving his fortune is free, and so on until only one child remains. The custom has given a proverb to the language. Marin, i. 117. A like usage (without the rhymes) we have found to be the usual way of selection in a town of Pennsylvania (Bethlehem).

150. First printed in Ritson's "Gammer Gurton's Garland." Other original versions: (1) Gent.'s Mag., Sept. 1823; (2), (3) The Critic, Jan. 15, 1857, and (4) Feb. 2, 1857. The last mentioned is nearly identical with our B. The communicator of (1) refers it, through an aged informant, to a lady born in the reign of Charles II.; it has several more verses than the last, generally agreeing with our E, but lacks the ending. The rhyme, in England, appears at present to be known as a song only. The European rhyme is properly a dialogue, the verses being sung alternately by the warders and the approaching party; the former, whose joined and lowered arms represent the fallen bridge, do not elevate them until the negotiations are concluded. The game is, no doubt, that mentioned under the name of "Coda Romana," by G. Villani, Istorie Fiorent., A.D. 1328, ch. xcvi., as played by the boys of Florence, in which the question put to the imprisoned player is said to have been, "Guelf or Ghibelline?"--_German_, Meier, p. 101 (cited), etc. Mannhardt in Zeitschr. f. d. Myth., iv. 301-320, gives twenty-seven versions, including _Slavic_, _Hungarian_, _Scandinavian_.--_Swedish_, Arwiddson, iii. 250.--_French_, Chabreul, p. 117, "Le Ciel et l'Enfer." Celnart, p. 52, 'Le Pontlevis.'--_Italian_, Bernoni, p. 46, "Le Porte." Corazzini, pp. 90-93; p. 87 (a mixed form with No. 154).--_Spanish_, A. de Ledesma, A.D. 1605, beginning "Fallen is the bridge." See Marin, i. 166-168.--For the English rhyme, see also N. and Q., 1st Ser. II. p. 338.

The name "Lady Lee" in the song may imply a legend. We read in Nature, June 15, 1871, p. 118: "It is not, for example, many years since the present Lord Leigh was accused of having built an obnoxious person--one account, if we remember right, said eight obnoxious persons--into the foundation of a bridge at Stoneleigh." The communicator of version (2) (The Critic, Jan. 15, 1857) spelt the name _Leigh_, and took "the Lady Leigh of the song to be the wife of Sir Thomas Leigh, who was Lord Mayor of London in 1558, ... ancestor of the noble family of Leigh of Stoneleigh, Warwickshire." Compare the ballad of "The Bridge of Arta," Passow, Pop. Carmina Græciæ Recent., No. 511; Tommaseo, Cant. Pop. Toscani, iii. 174 f.; F. Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde, 1879, p. 284.

151. A variation of No. 150.--_Italian_, Corazzini, pp. 91-93, beginning, "Open, open the gates." Gianandrea, No. 3, "Le Porte del Paradiso." The dialogue ends, "Let the King of France with all his soldiers pass."

152. _Italian_, Bernoni, p. 54.--_French_, Ch. du Camb. i. 133.--_German_, Vernaleken, p. 55.

153. _German_, Meier, p, 117, "Farben aufgeben," etc.--_Italian_, Bernoni, p. 51, "I colori." This version is identical with the German and our A, as is also the _Spanish_ (or Catalan), Maspons y Labrós, p. 91. The game of "Los Colores" is mentioned by A. de Ledesma, A.D. 1605.--_French_, Belèze, p. 40 (cited).

Intermediate between this number and the following are games of _selling birds_, Frischbier, p. 184; of _catching birds_, Rochholz, p. 449.

Greek game of the shell, #Ostrakinda#, Pollux, ix. 111.

154. The following is our classification of the numerous games (not before noticed as connected) belonging to this cycle of childish tradition:

(1.) Versions preserving the original idea of the child-stealing witch (as in our A, B, and C).--Halliwell, Pop. Rh., p. 131 (cited).--_German_, Meier, p. 117 (cited).--_Italian_, Corazzini, p. 110, a fragment.

(2.) Versions in which (as in our D) the mother is represented as present, and the game becomes one of _begging_ instead of _stealing_ children. This is the case in most _German_ versions. The tests described in No. 152 are introduced and become the leading feature of the game.--_German_, Frischbier, p. 183. Rochholz, p. 436, and p. 444, where the mother is called "Maria, mother of God," and the game "Getting Angels." Mullenhoff, p. 486, No. 7.--_Swedish_, Arwiddson, iii. p. 437 (cited). Mannhardt, Germanische Mythologie, pp. 273-321, gives fourteen versions, with a long discussion of this game, and concludes (p. 297) that the last girl of the row (who in our A is the eldest daughter, but here represents the "Mother Rose") "personates the goddess Freya cherishing in or behind the clouds the souls of the dead, who, renewed through the heavenly waters (the fountain of youth), are destined to return to earth at new birth as the souls of children!"

It is very curious to observe that several Prussian versions contain traits only explained by the American games, the form of which they thus imply as more original. Thus the mother is _invited to a meal_ by the witch, Frischbier, p. 182, and the person invited sends _excuses_ (see our A).

(3.) The mother and children are represented in childish fashion as a hen and her brood (see our B, and No. 101). Hence the game of the "Rich and Poor Birds;" see references in No. 8, note.--_Italian_, Corazzini, pp. 86-88. Gianandrea, No. 19, "Madonna Pollinara."

(4.) The children are denoted by the names of leaves or flowers.--_German_, Vernaleken, p. 58, "Die Grossmutter." The visitor begs for a leaf as balsam to heal her injury, and the girls are gathered under the name of leaves. So Frischbier, p. 181. Feifalik, No. 81.--_Spanish_, Maspons y Labrós, pp. 87-89, game of "Pulling Leeks."

(5.) The game has become a representation of selling pottery.--_German_, Frischbier, p. 183. Mannhardt, p. 284.--_Swedish_, Arwiddson, iii. 169, "Selling Pots," a dance, has become a mere mercenary transaction.--The English game of "Honey-pots" is a version of this, where the weighing feature is to be explained as in No. 152.--_Italian_, Bernoni, p. 57, "I Piteri," where the original idea reappears. The purchaser advances _limping_ (a characteristic of witches), and the game is one of stealing and recovery (like our London version E).--_Italian_, Gianandrea, No. 19. The first part of the game is played as in (3). The "pots" are weighed, as in the English game mentioned. Ferraro, G. Monfer., No. 43, where the purchaser is the devil, and the game thus passes over into the form of No. 153.--_Spanish_, Maspons y Labrós, p. 87, "Las Gerras."

(6.) A game of stealing or measuring cloth.--_German_, Rochholz, p. 437, "Tuch anmessen." In this game, mentioned by the mother of Goethe (Düntzer, Frauenbilder aus Goethe's Jugendzeit, p. 506), the children are arranged against the wall to represent cloth, which the dealer measures and names by the color of the stockings of the children. A thief steals the cloth bit by bit, which the dealer must recover by guessing the color, a task of some difficulty, the stockings having been taken off in the interval. A very curious Low-German version, Brem. Wiegenlieder, p. 61, removes any doubt as to the relation of the amusement to the original game. In this version the colored cloths are only names for children. There are verbal coincidences with forms given in the text, the dialogue beginning "Mother, the broth is boiling over!" (as in our version B), put (as in our version C) into the mouth of the watcher left in charge by the absent mother; so Aus dem Kinderleben, p. 39, "Leinendieb." The remainder of the first paragraph of C will be found almost word for word in Handelmann, p. 57, No. 80, "Frau Rosen," a version of the form (2).--_Italian_, Bernoni, p. 55, "I Brazzi de Tela," "the measures of cloth." The thief advances _limping_, the owner having departed, steals the cloth, but is pursued, and the goods recovered, as in the game of pots described above. Ferraro, G. Monfer., No. 3.--_French_, Celnart, p. 43, "La Toile," has become a kissing romp of grown people.

(7.) Finally, to the same root belong various rounds and dances which represent a mother who wishes to marry her many daughters, or of a poor widow who has but one daughter; see our No. 8, and note.

155. _German_, Grimm, No. 15, "Hansel und Grethel."

156. Gent.'s Mag., Feb. 1738, "Fryar's Ground."--_Spanish_, Maspons y Labrós, p. 92.--_French_, Celnart, p. 53, "Chateau du Corbeau;" "Je suis dans ton château, corbeau, et j'y serai toujours."--_German_, Meier, p. 98, "Ist der Kukuk zu Haus?" see No. 115, note. German games based on this idea are numerous. Vernaleken, p. 77, "The Black Man;" p. 62, "Dead man, arise;" p. 73, "Wassermannspiel." The child representing the Water-spirit lies in the dry bed of a brook and pretends to sleep. The rest approach to tease him, when he endeavors to seize one without leaving the brook or pit. The first so caught must assist him to capture the rest. The superstition about a treasure buried at the foot of the rainbow is also Swiss, see Lütolf, Sagen, etc., Von Lutzern, p. 384.

157. A variation of 156.--_German_, Meier, p. 121. Rochholz, p. 415.

158. _German_, Meier, p. 102, "Der Böse Geist."

159. _French_, Celnart, p. 365, etc.--_German_, Vernaleken, p. 52, etc. See Mannhardt, Germ. Myth., pp. 492-511, who gives twenty-three versions, including a Spanish (Catalan) one. He imagines, as usual, a good deal of mythology in the game. The mythologic character belongs, not to the details of the children's rounds, but to the cycle of traditions on which these are founded. The name in Suabia is "Prinzessin erlösen," "to disenchant the princess."

160. _Provençal_, Arbaud, ii. 207.--_French_, Puymaigre, p. 334. Bugeaud, i. 126. Tarbé, ii. 178.

Of the following games played in Great Britain, and possessing European equivalents, we have not obtained American versions: (1.) Halliwell, Pop. Rh., p. 131, "Game of the Fox."--_German_, Rochholz, p. 44, "Fuchs aus dem Loche." Handelmann, p. 74.--_French_, Belèze, p. 27, "La Mère Garuche," also "Le Diable boiteux."--_Ancient Greek_, Pollux, ix. 121. (2.) Halliwell, Pop. Rh., p. 126, "The Poor Soldier."--_Spanish_, Maspons y Labrós, p. 86, mentioned A.D. 1605, Marin, i. 177. (3.) "The Wadds," Chambers, p. 124.--_German_, Rochholz, p. 432, No. 52. (4.) Chambers, p. 128, "The Craw."--_German_, Rochholz, p. 445, "Der Teufel an der Kette." (5.) Nurs. Rh., No. 323, "This is the Key of the Kingdom."--_German_, Handelmann, p. 39.--_French_, Celnart, p. 181.--_Spanish_, Marin, i. 88.

Transcriber's Notes:

Simple spelling, grammar, and typographical errors were corrected.

Punctuation normalized.

Anachronistic and non-standard spellings retained as printed.

Italics markup is enclosed in _underscores_.

Bold markup is enclosed in =equals=.

Gesperrt markup is enclosed in +plus signs+.

Greek text is transliterated and enclosed in #number signs#.

Beginning with p. 236 several numbers were skipped in the original.

End of Project Gutenberg's Games and Songs of American Children, by Various