Part 10
+---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ |No.| London. | Barnes. | Hersham. | +---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ | 1.| -- | -- | -- | | 2.| -- | -- | -- | | 3.|Queen Anne. |Queen Anne. |Lady Queen Anne. | | 4.| -- | -- | -- | | 5.| -- | -- |Sits in a tan. | | 6.| -- | -- | -- | | 7.|Sits in the sun. |Sits in the sun. | -- | | 8.| -- | -- | -- | | 9.| -- |Fair as lily, white as|Fair as lily, white as| | | |swan. |swan. | |10.|Fair as lily, brown as| -- | -- | | |bun. | | | |11.| -- | -- | -- | |12.| -- | -- | -- | |13.| -- | -- | -- | |14.| -- | -- | -- | |15.| -- | -- | -- | |16.| -- | -- | -- | |17.| -- | -- | -- | |18.|We bring you three |I bring you three |Queen of Morocco sent | | |letters. |letters. |you a letter. | |19.| Pray you read one. |Pray you choose one. |Please to read one. | |20.| -- | -- | -- | |21.|Cannot read one |Cannot read one |I won't read one | | |without all. |without all. |except all. | |22.| -- | -- | -- | |23.|Please give up the |Pray give up the ball.|Please, Miss [ ], | | |ball. | |deliver the ball. | |24.| -- | -- | -- | |25.| -- | -- | -- | |26.| -- | -- | -- | |27.|The ball is ours, and |The ball is ours, it | -- | | |none of yours. |is not yours. | | |28.| -- | -- | -- | |29.|And we've the right to|And we've the right to| -- | | |keep it. |keep it. | | |30.|The ball is yours, and|The ball is yours, it | -- | | |not ours. |is not ours. | | |31.|You, black gipsies, | -- | -- | | |sit in the sun. | | | |32.|While we, fair ladies,| -- | -- | | |go as we come. | | | |33.| -- | -- | -- | |34.| -- |And you've the right | -- | | | |to keep it. | | |35.| -- | -- | -- | |36.| -- | -- | -- | |37.| -- | -- | -- | |38.| -- | -- | -- | |39.| -- | -- | -- | +---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
+---+----------------------+----------------------+ |No.| Sussex. | Devon. | +---+----------------------+----------------------+ | 1.| -- | -- | | 2.| -- | -- | | 3.|Queen Ann. |Queen Ann. | | 4.| -- | -- | | 5.| -- | -- | | 6.| -- | -- | | 7.|Sits in the sun. |Sat in the sun. | | 8.| -- |Pair of white gloves | | | |to cover her hand. | | 9.| -- |White as lily, red as | | | |rose. | |10.|Fair as lily, bright | -- | | |as one. | | |11.| -- | -- | |12.| -- | -- | |13.| -- | -- | |14.| -- |To which young lady do| | | |you propose? | |15.| -- | -- | |16.| -- | -- | |17.| -- | -- | |18.|King Geo. has sent you| -- | | |three letters. | | |19.|Desires you to read | -- | | |one. | | |20.| -- | -- | |21.|Cannot read one | -- | | |without all. | | |22.| -- | -- | |23.|Pray, Miss [ ], | -- | | |deliver the ball. | | |24.| -- | -- | |25.|So, black gipsies, sit| -- | | |in the sun. | | |26.|We fair ladies, go as | -- | | |we come. | | |27.|The ball is ours, and | -- | | |none of yours. | | |28.| -- | -- | |29.| -- | -- | |30.| -- | -- | |31.| -- | -- | |32.| -- | -- | |33.| -- | -- | |34.| -- | -- | |35.| -- | -- | |36.| -- | -- | |37.| -- | -- | |38.| -- | -- | |39.| -- | -- | +---+----------------------+----------------------+
This game appears to be in such a state of decadence that it is difficult to do more than suggest an origin. It may be that "Queen Anne" represents an oracle, and the petition is addressed to her to discover the stolen treasure; but more probably the players represent disguised damsels, one of whom is a bride whose identity has to be found out by her showing or possessing some object which belongs to or has been given previously by her suitor. The "guessing" or "naming" a particular person runs through all the versions, and is undoubtedly the clue to the game. If the Belfast version is the nearest to the original of those at present existing, and there is every probability that this is so, especially as Chambers' version is so similar, an early form of the game might be restored, and from this its origin may be ascertained. Using the first four lines of one of Halliwell's versions, and what appear to be the common lines of the other versions, the reading is--
_Suitor and Friends._
Here we come a-piping, First in Spring and then in May. The Queen she sits upon the sand, Fair as a lily, white as a wand [swan]. Here's a pair of {white} gloves to cover the hands [suitors offer {green} gloves],
Of the fairest lady in all the land.
_Guardian (or Mother) and Maidens._
Come {taste} my lily, come {taste} my rose, {smell} {smell} For which of my maidens do you propose?
_Suitors or Queen Anne._
I chose but one, I chose from all, I pray, Miss ( ), receive the ball [throwing ball to one girl, who catches it].
Or--
I pray this hand receive the ball, [putting a ball into the extended hands of one of three girls.]
Guardian then disguises three girls (one with the ball) with veils or other coverings, so that they precisely resemble each other, and returns with the girls to the suitors, saying to the girls--
Turn, ladies, turn; turn, ladies, turn;
and to the suitors--
Come choose your own, come choose from all. I've brought you three letters, pray can you read one?
_Suitor_
(touching one of the disguised girls).
I cannot read one without I read all. I pray, Miss ( ), yield up the ball.
_Disguised Maiden_
(one who did not receive the ball).
The ball is mine, and none of thine, And so, good morning, Valentine.
_Chorus of Maidens_ (curtseying).
We will go to the wood and gather flowers, We will get pins to pin our clothes, You will get nails to nail your toes. Cats and kittens bide within, But we, young maidens, come out and in.
The inference being that the chosen maiden is still free until the suitor can try again, and is fortunate enough to indicate the right maiden.
If this conjectural restoration of the verses be accepted on the evidence, it would suggest that this game originated from one of the not uncommon customs practised at weddings or betrothals--when the suitor has to discriminate between several girls all dressed precisely alike and distinguish his bride by some token. (See "King William.") This incident of actual primitive custom also obtains in folk tales, thus showing its strong hold upon popular tradition, and hence increasing the probability that it would reappear in games. It must be remembered that the giving of gloves was a significant fact in betrothals.
This game is said by some to have its origin in the use of the sedan chair. A version taken from a newspaper cutting (unfortunately I had not recorded the name and date, but think it was probably the _Leeds Mercury_ some years ago) gives the following rhyme. The writer does not say whether he knows it as a game--
Lady Lucan she sits in a sedan, As fair as a lily, as white as a swan; A pair of green gloves to doff and to don. My mistress desires you will read one, I can't read one without them all, So I pray this hand decline the ball.
In this version there is still the puzzle to solve, or riddle to read.
Queen Mary
[Music: Verses 1, 2.]
[Music: Verses 3, 4, 5.]
--Hexham (Miss J. Barker).
I. Queen Mary, Queen Mary, my age is sixteen, My father's a farmer on yonder green; He has plenty of money to dress me in silk-- Come away, my sweet laddie, and take me a walk.
One morning I rose and I looked in the glass, I thought to myself what a handsome young lass; My hands by my side, and a gentle ha, ha, Come away, my sweet lassie, and take me a walk.
Father, mother, may I go, may I go, may I go; Father, mother, may I go, to buy a bunch of roses? Oh yes, you may go, you may go, you may go; Oh yes, you may go, buy a bunch of roses!
Pick up her tail and away she goes, away she goes, away she goes; Pick up her tail and away she goes, to buy a bunch of roses.
--Sang by the children of Hexham Workhouse (Miss J. Barker).
II. Queen Mary, Queen Mary, my age is sixteen, My father's a farmer on yonder green; He has plenty of money to keep me sae braw, Yet nae bonnie laddie will tak' me awa'.
The morning so early I looked in the glass, And I said to myself what a handsome young lass; My hands by my side, and I gave a ha, ha, Come awa', bonnie laddie, and tak' me awa'.
--Berwickshire, A. M. Bell, _Antiquary_, xxx. 17.
III. My name is Queen Mary, My age is sixteen, My father's a farmer in Old Aberdeen; He has plenty of money to dress me in black-- There's nae [no] bonnie laddie 'ill tack me awa'. Next mornin' I wakened and looked in the glass, I said to myself, what a handsome young lass; Put your hands to your haunches and give a ha, ha, For there's nae bonnie laddie will tack ye awa'.
--N. E. Scotland (Rev. W. Gregor).
IV. My name is Queen Mary, My age is sixteen, My father's a farmer in yonder green; He's plenty of money to dress in silk [fu' braw'], For there's nae bonnie laddie can tack me awa'. One morning I rose and I looked in the glass, Says I to myself, I'm a handsome young lass; My hands by my edges, and I give a ha, ha, For there's nae bonnie laddie t' tack me awa'.
--Cullen (Rev. W. Gregor).
(_b_) The Scottish game is played by girls. The players join hands, form a circle with one in the centre, and dance round singing. At the words "'ill tack me awa'," the centre player chooses another one, and the two wheel round. Then the singing proceeds. At the exclamation "ha! ha!" the players suit the action to the words of the line. In the Cullen game the girls stand in a row with one in front, who sings the verses and chooses another player from the line. The two then join hands and go round and round, singing the remaining verses.
Queen of Sheba
Two rows of people sit on chairs face to face on each side of a door, leaving just sufficient space between the lines for a player to pass. At the end of the rows furthest from the door sits the "Queen of Sheba," with a veil or shawl over her head. A player, hitherto unacquainted with the game, is brought to the door, shown the Queen, and told to go up between the rows, after being blindfolded, to kiss her, taking care, meanwhile, to avoid treading on the toes of the people on each side the alley leading to the lady. While his mind is diverted by these instructions, and by the process of blindfolding, the Queen gives up her seat to "the King," who has been lurking in the background. He assumes the veil and receives the kiss, to the amusement of every one but the uninitiated player.
--Anderby, Lincolnshire, and near the Trent, Nottinghamshire (Miss M. Peacock).
Ragman
An ancient game, at which persons drew by chance poetical descriptions of their characters, the amusement consisting--as at modern games of a similar kind--in the peculiar application or misapplication of the verses so selected at hazard by the drawers.--Halliwell's _Dictionary_. Halliwell goes on to say that the meaning of this term was first developed by Mr. Wright in his _Anecdota Literaria_, 1844, where he has printed two collections of ancient verses used in the game of "Ragman." Mr. Wright conjectures that the stanzas were written one after another on a roll of parchment; that to each stanza a string was attached at the side, with a seal or piece of metal or wood at the end; and that when used the parchment was rolled up with all the strings and their seals hanging together, so that the drawer had no reason for choosing one more than another, but drew one of the strings by mere chance, and which he opened to see on what stanza he had fallen. If such were the form of the game, we can very easily imagine why the name was applied to a charter with an unusual number of seals attached to it, which, when rolled up, would present exactly the same appearance. Mr. Wright is borne out in his opinion by an English poem, termed "Ragmane roelle," printed from MS., Fairfax, 16:--
"My ladyes and my maistresses echone, Lyke hit unto your humbyble wommanhede, Resave in gré of my sympill persone This rolle, which, withouten any drede, Kynge Ragman me bad me sowe in brede, And cristyned yt the merour of your chaunce; Drawith a strynge, and that shal streight yow leyde Unto the verry path of your governaunce."
That the verses were generally written in a roll may perhaps be gathered from a passage in Douglas's Virgil:--
"With that he raucht me ane roll: to rede I begane, The royetest ane ragment with mony ratt rime."
Halliwell also quotes the following:--
"Venus, whiche stant withoute lawe, In non certeyne, but as men drawe Of Ragemon upon the chaunce, Sche leyeth no peys in the balaunce."
--Gower, MS. _Society of Antiquaries_, 134, 244.
The term rageman is applied to the devil in "Piers Ploughman," 335.
Rag-stag
See "Stag Warning."
Rakes and Roans
A boys' game, in which the younger ones are chased by the larger boys, and when caught carried home pick-a-back.--Halliwell's _Dictionary_.
Moor (_Suffolk Words and Phrases_) says this game is often called "Rakes" only, and is the same, probably, that is thus alluded to: "To play Reaks, to domineer, to show mad pranks." The jest of it is to be carried home a pig-back, by the less swift wight who you may catch.
Rakkeps
A game among boys [undescribed].--Dickinson's _Cumberland Glossary_.
Range the Bus
Sides are chosen, and a line made across the playground. One of the sides goes up and the other goes down, and throws their bonnets on the ground. Then one side tries to get one of the opposite side across the line and crown him, and one of the opposite side tries to crown him back. If another boy can catch this player before he gets near him, he is crowned also. All the time the one side is trying to take the bonnets.--Old Aberdeen (Rev. W. Gregor).
See "French and English," "Scotch and English."
Rax, or Raxie-boxie, King of Scotland
The players, except one, take their stand at one side, and one stands at the other side in front of them. When all are ready, the one in front calls out "Cock," or "Caron," when all rush across to the other side, and he tries to catch one of them in crossing. The one caught helps to catch the others as they run back. Each time the players run from the one side to the other the word "Cock," or "Caron," is called out, and the change is continued till all are caught--each one as caught becoming a catcher. In Tyrie the game is called "Dyke King" when played by boys, and "Queen" when played by girls. The word "King," or "Queen," is called out before each run, according as the game is played by boys or girls.--Ballindalloch (Rev. W. Gregor).
This game is called "Red Rover" in Liverpool (Mr. C. C. Bell). "Red Rover" is shouted out by the catcher when players are ready to rush across.
See "King Cæsar."
Relievo
This game is played by one child trying to catch the rest. The first prisoner taken joins hands with the captor and helps in the pursuit, and so on till all the playmates have been taken.--Anderby, Lincs. (Miss M. Peacock).
This game is the same as "Chickiddy Hand," "Stag Warning."
Religious Church
The children stand in a line. One child on the opposite side, facing them, says--
Have you been to a religious church?
Row of children answer--
No! Have I asked you? No! Put your fingers on your lips and follow me.
All the row follow behind her to some other part of the ground, where she stands with her back to them, and they form a new row. One child out of the row now steps forward, and standing behind the first girl says--
Guess who stands behind you?
If the first girl guesses right she keeps her old place, and they begin again. If she is wrong the child who has come from the row takes her place, and a new game is begun. Of course the child who asks the last question alters its voice as much as possible, so as not to be recognised.--Liphook, Hants. (Miss Fowler).
Rigs
A game of children in Aberdeenshire, said to be the same as Scotch and English, and also called Rockety Row.--Jamieson's _Dictionary_.
Ring
See "Ring-taw."
Ring a Ring o' Roses
[Music]
--Marlborough (H. S. May).
[Music]
--Yorkshire (H. Hardy).
[Music]
--Sporle (Miss Matthews).
I. Ring a ring o' roses, A pocket-full o' posies; One for me, and one for you, And one for little Moses-- Hasher, Hasher, Hasher, all fall down.
--Winterton, Lincoln, and Leadenham (Miss M. Peacock).
II. A ring, a ring o' roses, A pocket-full o' posies; One for Jack, and one for Jim, and one for little Moses-- A-tisha! a-tisha! a-tisha!
--Shropshire (Burne's _Shropshire Folk-lore_, p. 511).
III. A ring, a ring o' roses, A pocket-full o' posies; A curchey in, and a curchey out, And a curchey all together.
--Edgmond (Burne's _Shropshire Folk-lore_, p. 571).
IV. Ring, a ring o' roses, A pocket full o' posies; Up-stairs and down-stairs, In my lady's chamber-- Husher! Husher! Cuckoo!
--Wakefield, Yorks. (Miss Fowler).
V. Ring, a ring of roses, Basket full of posies-- Tisha! Tisha! all fall down.
--Penzance, Cornwall (Mrs. Mabbott).
VI. Ring, a ring a roses, A pocketful of posies; Hush, oh! hush, oh! All fall down!
--Colchester, Essex (Miss G. M. Frances).
VII. Ring, a ring a rosy, A pocket full of posies; One for you, and one for me, And one for little Moses-- Atishm! Atishm!
--Beddgelert (Mrs. Williams).
VIII. A ring, a ring of roses, A pocket full of posies-- Hist! hush! last down dead!
--Gainford, Durham (Miss A. Eddleston).
IX. Ring, a ring a row-o, See the children go-o, Sit below the goose-berry bush; Hark! they all cry Hush! hush! hush! Sitty down, sit down.
Duzzy, duzzy gander, Sugar, milk, and candy; Hatch-u, hatch-u, all fall down together.
--South Shields (Miss Blair, aged 9).
X. Ringey, ringey rosies, A pocketful of posies-- Hach-ho, hach-ho, all fall down.
Another version--
Hash-ho! Tzhu-ho! all fall down.
--Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews).
XI. Windy, windy weather, Cold and frosty weather, When the wind blows We all blow together. I saw Peter! When did you meet him? Merrily, cherrily [so pronounced] All fall down.
A ring, a ring of roses, A pocketful of posies-- Ashem, ashem, all fall down.
--Sheffield (S. O. Addy).
(_b_) A ring is formed by the children joining hands. They all dance round, singing the lines. At the word "Hasher" or "Atcha" they all raise their hands [still clasped] up and down, and at "all fall down" they sit suddenly down on the ground. In Lancashire (Morton) they pause and curtsey deeply. The imitation of sneezing is common to all. Miss Peacock says, in Nottinghamshire they say "Hashem! Hashem!" and shake their heads. In the Sheffield version the children sing the first eight lines going round, and all fall down when the eighth is sang. They then form a ring by holding hands, and move round singing the next three lines, and then they all fall either on their knees or flat on their faces.