Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium Part 22

Literature.--The names of the works of a given author; of the authors of a period, or of the characters in a book or play.

Nature study.--The names of birds, trees, flowers, or any other branch of nature study may be used.

LADY OF THE LAND

_4 to 10 players._

_Indoors; out of doors._

This is one of the old dramatic games in which various parts are enacted by the different players.

One player takes the part of a lady and stands alone on one side.

Another represents a mother, and the balance are children, from two to eight in number, whom the mother takes by the hand on either side of her, and approaches the lady, repeating the following verse; the children may join with her in this if desired:--

"Here comes a widow from Sandalam, With all her children at her hand; The one can bake, the other can brew The other can make a lily-white shoe; Another can sit by the fire and spin; So pray take one of my daughters in."

The lady then chooses one of the children, saying:--

"The fairest one that I can see Is pretty [Mary]; come to me."

Mother:--

"I leave my daughter safe and sound, And in her pocket a thousand pound.

Don't let her ramble; don't let her trot; Don't let her carry the mustard pot."

The mother then retires with the other children, leaving the daughter chosen with the lady. This daughter sits down behind or beside the lady. As the mother retires, the lady says, under her breath, so that the mother may not hear:--

"She shall ramble, she shall trot; She shall carry the mustard pot."

This entire play is repeated until all of the children have been chosen and left with the lady. The mother then retires alone, and after an interval in which several days are supposed to have elapsed, calls to see her children. The lady tells her she cannot see them. The mother insists, and the lady finally takes her to where they are sitting.

The mother goes to one child and asks how the lady has treated her.

The child answers, "She cut off my curls and made a curl pie and never gave me a bit of it!" The mother asks the next child, who says she cut off her ear or fingers, etc., and made a pie, not giving her a bit of it. When all have told the mother what the lady has done to them, they all rise up and chase the lady; when captured, she is led off to prison.

This is one of the oldest traditional dramatic games, and is found in some form in almost all countries. Sometimes the mother is supposed to be poor, and bestows her children upon the wealthy lady of the land for adoption. It is thought possibly to have come from the country practice in European countries of hiring servants at fairs.

LAME FOX AND CHICKENS

_10 to 30 or more players._

_Playground; gymnasium._

One player is chosen for the fox, and stands in a den marked off at one end of the playground. The rest are chickens, and have a chicken yard at the opposite end of the ground. The chickens advance as near as they dare to the den of the fox and tease him by calling out: "Lame fox! Lame fox! Can't catch anybody!" The lame fox may take only three steps beyond his den, after which he must hop on one foot, trying to tag the chickens while hopping. All tagged become foxes and go home with him, thereafter sallying forth with him to catch the chickens.

They must all then observe the same rule of taking but three steps beyond the den, after which they must hop. Should any fox put both feet down at once after his three steps while outside the den, the chickens may drive him back. Care should be taken that the hopping be not always done on the same foot, though a fox may change his hopping from one foot to the other. The chicken last caught wins the game and becomes the first lame fox in the new game.

Where more than thirty players are engaged, the game should start with two or more foxes.

This game has sometimes been called Lame Goose.

It is admirable for players of all ages, but, like all "dare"

games, is especially good to overcome timidity. Timid children should be encouraged to venture near the fox and to take risks in giving their challenge.

LAST COUPLE OUT

(Widower; Last Pair Pa.s.s)

_11 to 31 or more players._

_Playground; gymnasium._

An odd number of players is required for this game. One is chosen for catcher, who stands at one end of the playground with his back to the other players. The other players stand in couples in a long line behind him, facing in the same direction that he does. The catcher should be not less than ten feet in front of the first couple.

The catcher calls, "Last couple out!" when the last pair in the line runs toward the front, the right-hand one on the right side of the double line, and the left-hand one on the left side, and try to join hands in front of the catcher. The catcher may not chase them before they are in line with him, and may not turn his head to see when or from where the runners are coming. They should try to gain their end by varying the method of approach, sometimes both circling far out beyond him on either side, or one of them doing this and the other running in close toward the lines.

[Ill.u.s.tration diagram: LAST COUPLE OUT]

If the catcher succeeds in catching one of the players before that player can clasp hands with his partner, these two, catcher and caught, form a couple and take their places at the head of the line, which should move backward one place to make room for them, and the other player of the running couple becomes catcher. If neither be caught, they are free; _i.e._ out of the game.

In the Scotch and Swedish forms of this game, the t.i.tle is "Widow" or "Widower," the catcher supposedly taking the part of the bereaved one and trying to get a mate. It has been suggested that the game has descended from old methods of marriage by capture.

LAST MAN

_10 to 60 players._

_Schoolroom._

This is a schoolroom adaptation of the game usually known as "Three Deep," or "Third Man." It is one of the most interesting and popular schoolroom games.

One player is chosen to be runner and another chaser. The remaining players are seated. The game starts with quite a distance between runner and chaser. The first object of the game is for the chaser to tag (touch) the runner. Should he do this, they immediately change parts, the previous chaser having to flee instantly for safety with the previous runner, now chaser, after him. The greatest sport of the game comes in, however, in the way the runner may save himself at any time from being tagged by the chaser by standing at the rear of any row of seats and calling "Last man!" As soon as he does this, the one sitting in the front row of that line of seats becomes liable to tagging by the chaser, and must instantly get up and run. As soon as he has left his seat, the entire line moves forward one seat, leaving a seat at the rear for the "last man." There may be no moving of this kind, however, until the runners are out of the aisle.

As in all running games in the cla.s.s room, the seated players must keep their feet under the desks and out of the aisles.

It will be seen that all of the players must be very alert to watch the actions of the runner, but especially those sitting in the front seats, as at any moment one of them may have to become runner. The last man must never fail to call out the words "Last man!" when he takes his stand at the rear of a row of seats. He is not considered to have taken refuge until he does this.

LEADER AND FOOTER