Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales Part 10

TOE-GAMES

Harry Whistle, Tommy Thistle, Harry Whible, Tommy Thible, And little Oker-bell.

A game with the five toes, each toe being touched in succession as these names are cried. "This song affords a proof of the connexion between the English and Scandinavian rhymes. The last line, as it now stands, appears to mean nothing. The word _oker_, however, is the A.-S. aecer, Icel. akr, Dan. ager, and Swed. ker, p.r.o.nounced _oker_, a field, and the flower is the field-bell."-Mr. Stephens's MS. The following lines are also used in a play with the toes:

Shoe the colt, shoe!

Shoe the wild mare!

Put a sack on her back, See if she'll bear.

If she'll bear, We'll give her some grains; If she won't bear, We'll dash out her brains.

There are many various versions of this song in English, and it also exists in Danish (Thiele, iii. 133).

Skoe min best!

Hvem kan bedst?

Det kan vor Praest!

Nei maen kan ban ej!

For det kan vor smed, Som boer ved Leed.

Shoe my horse!

Who can best?

Why, our priest!

Not he, indeed!

But our smith can, He lives at Leed.

Perhaps, however, this will be considered more like the common rhyme, "Robert Barnes, Fellow fine," printed in the 'Nursery Rhymes of England,' p. 166. An a.n.a.logous verse is found in the nursery anthology of Berlin (Kuhn, Kinderlieder, 229), and in that of Sweden (Lilja, p.

14),-

Sko, sko min lille hast, I morgon frosten blir' vr gast, D bli' hastskorna dyra, Tv styfver for fyra.

Shoe, shoe my little horse, To-morrow it will be frosty: Then will horse-shoes be dear, Two will cost a stiver.

English nurses use the following lines, when a child's shoe is tight, and they pat the foot to induce him to allow it to be tried on:

Cobbler, cobbler, mend my shoe, Give it a st.i.tch and that will do.

Here's a nail, and there's a prod, And now my shoe is well shod.

Or, occasionally, these lines,-

This pig went to market, Squeak, mouse, mouse, mousey; Shoe, shoe, shoe the wild colt, And here's my own doll dowsy.

The following lines are said by the nurse when moving the child's foot up and down,-

The dog of the kill,[35]

He went to the mill To lick mill-dust: The miller he came With a stick on his back,- Home, dog, home!

The foot behind, The foot before: When he came to a style, Thus he jumped o'er.

[Footnote 35: A north-country term for _kiln_.]

THE FIVE FINGERS.

I do not recollect to have seen anywhere noticed the somewhat singular fact, that our ancestors had distinct names for each of the five fingers-the thumb being generally called a finger in old works. Yet such was the case; and it may not displease the reader to have these cognominations duly set forth in order, viz. _thumb_, _toucher_, _longman_, _leche-man_, _little-man_. This information is derived from a very curious MS. quoted in my Dictionary of Archaisms, p. 357; and the reasons for the names are thus set forth:-The first finger was called _toucher_ because "therewith men touch i-wis;" the second finger _longman_, "for longest finger it is," (this, I beg to say, is intended for rhyme). The third finger was called _leche-man_, because a leche or doctor tasted everything by means of it. This is very curious; though we find elsewhere another reason for this appellation, on account of the pulsation in it, which was at one time supposed to communicate directly with the heart. The other finger was, of course, called _littleman_ because it was the least of all. It is rather curious that some of these names should have survived the wrecks of time, and be still preserved in a nursery-rhyme; yet such is the fact; for one thus commences, the fingers being kept in corresponding movements:

Dance, thumbkin, dance, Dance, thumbkin, dance; Dance, ye merry men all around: But thumbkin he can dance alone; But thumbkin he can dance alone.

Dance, foreman, dance, Dance foreman, dance; Dance, ye merry men all around: But thumbkin he can dance alone; But thumbkin he can dance alone.

And so on, subst.i.tuting in succession _middleone_, _longman_, or _middleman_, _ringman_, and _littleman_, and each verse terminating with "thumbkin he can dance alone." In some instances the original name for the third finger, _lecheman_, is preserved in the rhyme, but _ringman_ is most generally adopted.

It is worthy of remark too, that there is, even at the present day, amongst many of the old women of the Peak of Derbyshire, a strong belief in the superiority of _lecheman_ over _foreman_ in all matters of taste.

They say that the forefinger is _venomous_, and that the superiority of the third is to be ascribed to its being possessed of a _nerve_; and as they appear to pay a most superst.i.tious reverence to a nerve, whether in the finger, the tooth, or the ear, they do not fail to impress upon their daughters the importance of tasting anything of consequence with the third finger.

The names given to the fingers vary considerably in the different counties. In Ess.e.x they call them

Tom Thumbkin, Bess b.u.mpkin, Bill Wilkin, Long Linkin, And little d.i.c.k!

And in some parts of Yorkshire,

Tom Thumbkins, Bill Wilkins, Long Daniel, Bessy Bobtail, And little d.i.c.k.

Similar appellations for the fingers are common in Denmark. Thus, Thiele, iii. 136,-

Tommeltot, Slikkepot, Langemand, Guldbrand, Lille Peer Spilleman.

"Little Peer Spilleman" is "little Peter the fiddler," not a bad name for the little finger. A slight variation of this is current in Sweden,-

Tomme tott, Slicke pott; Lnge man, Hjertlig hand; Lille, lille, lille, gullvive!

The following song for the four fingers is obtained from Lancashire:

This broke the barn, This stole the corn, This got none: This went pinky-winky All the way home!

FACE-SONGS.

Bo Peeper, Nose dreeper, Chin chopper, White lopper, Red rag, And little gap.

These lines are said to a very young child, touching successively for each line the eye, nose, chin, tooth, tongue, and mouth. Sometimes the following version is used:

Brow brinky, Eye winky, Chin choppy, Nose noppy, Cheek cherry, Mouth merry.

The most pleasing amus.e.m.e.nt of this kind is the game of "face-tapping,"

the nurse tapping each feature as she sings these lines,-

Here sits the lord mayor (_forehead_), Here sit his two men (_eyes_); Here sits the c.o.c.k (_right cheek_), Here sits the hen (_left cheek_).

Here sit the little chickens (_tip of nose_), Here they run in (_mouth_); Chinchopper, chinchopper, Chinchopper, chin (_chucking the chin_)!

Similar songs are common in the North of Europe. A Danish one is given by Thiele, iii. 130: