Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales Part 15

_Suitors._ Here come two dukes all out of Spain, A courting to your daughter Jane.

_Mother._ My daughter Jane, she is so young, She can't abide your flattering tongue.

_Suitor._ Let her be young or let her be old, It is the price, she must be sold Either for silver or for gold.

So, fare you well, my lady gay, For I must turn another way.

_Mother._ Turn back, turn back, you Spanish knight, And rub your spurs till they be bright.

_Suitor._ My spurs they are of a costliest wrought, And in this town they were not bought; Nor in this town they won't be sold, Neither for silver nor for gold.

So, fare you well, my lady gay, For I must turn another way.

Through the kitchen, and through the hall, And take the fairest of them all; The fairest is, as I can see, Pretty Jane, come here to me.

Now I've got my pretty fair maid, Now I've got my pretty fair maid To dance along with me- To dance along with me!

There is a different version in Cambridgeshire, but the girl recollects it so imperfectly, and only two stanzas, that I cannot depend upon their being correct.

Here come three lords dressed all in green, For the sake of your daughter Jane.

My daughter Jane she is so young, She learns to talk with a flattering tongue.

Let her be young, or let her be old, For her beauty she must be sold.

My mead's not made, my cake's not baked, And you cannot have my daughter Jane.

HEWLEY-PULEY.

The children are seated and the following questions put by one of the party, holding a twisted handkerchief or something of the sort in the hand. The handkerchief was called hewley-puley, and the questions are asked by the child who holds it. If one answered wrongly, a box on the ear with the handkerchief was the consequence; but if they all replied correctly, then the one who broke silence first had that punishment.

Take this! What's this?-Hewley-puley.

Where's my share?-About the kite's neck.

Where's the kite?-Flown to the wood.

Where's the wood?-The fire has burned it.

Where's the fire?-The water has quenched it.

Where's the water?-The ox has drunk it.

Where's the ox?-The butcher has killed it.

Where's the butcher?-The rope has hanged him.

Where's the rope?-The rat has gnawed it.

Where's the rat?-The cat has killed it.

Where's the cat?-Behind the church door, cracking pebble-stones and marrow-bones for yours and my supper, and the one who speaks first shall have a box on the ear.

THE DIAMOND RING.

Children sit in a ring or in a line, with their hands placed together palm to palm, and held straight, the little fingers downmost between the knees. One of them is then chosen to represent a servant, who takes a ring, or some other small article as a subst.i.tute, between her two palms, which are pressed flat together like those of the rest, and goes round the circle or line, placing her hands into the hands of every player, so that she is enabled to let the ring fall wherever she pleases without detection. After this, she returns to the first child she touched, and with her hands behind her exclaims,-

My lady's lost her diamond ring: I pitch upon you to find it!

The child who is thus addressed must guess who has the ring, and the servant performs the same ceremony with each of the party. They who guess right, escape; but the rest forfeit. Should any one in the ring exclaim, "I have it," she also forfeits; nor must the servant make known who has the ring, until all have guessed, under the same penalty. The forfeits are afterwards cried as usual.

THE POOR SOLDIER.

Children form a half-circle, first choosing one of their number to represent the poor soldier. The chief regulation is that none of the players may use the words, _yes_, _no_, _black_, _white_, or _gray_. The poor soldier traverses the semicircle, thus addressing each player,-

Here's a poor soldier come to town!

Have you aught to give him?

The answer must of course be evasive, else there is a fine. He continues, "Have you a pair of trousers [or old coat, shoes, cap, &c.]

to give me?" The answer must again be evasive, or else another forfeit.

The old soldier then asks: "Well, what colour is it?" The reply must avoid the forbidden colours, or another forfeit is the penalty. Great ingenuity may be exhibited in the manner in which the questions and answers are constructed, and, in the hands of some children, this is a most amusing recreation. The forfeits are of course cried at the end of the game.

THE BRAMBLE-BUSH.

A ring-dance imitation-play, the metrical portion of which is not without a little melody. The bramble-bush is often imaginative, but sometimes represented by a child in the centre of the ring. All join hands, and dance round in a circle, singing,-

Here we go round the bramble-bush, -The bramble-bush, the bramble-bush: Here we go round the bramble-bush On a cold frosty morning!

After the chanting of this verse is ended, all the children commence an imitation of washing clothes, making appropriate movements with their hands, and saying,-

This is the way we wash our clothes, -Wash our clothes, wash our clothes: This is the way we wash our clothes On a cold frosty morning!

They then dance round, repeating the first stanza, after which the operation of drying the clothes is commenced with a similar verse, "This is the way we dry our clothes," &c. The game may be continued almost _ad infinitum_ by increasing the number of duties to be performed. They are, however, generally satisfied with mangling, _smoothing_ or ironing, the clothes, and then putting them away. Sometimes they conclude with a general cleaning, which may well be necessary after the large quant.i.ty of work that has been done:

This is the way we clean our rooms, -Clean our rooms, clean our rooms: This is the way we clean our rooms On a cold frosty morning!

And like good merry washing-women, they are not exhausted with their labours, but conclude with the song, "Here we go round the bramble-bush," having had sufficient exercise to warm themselves on any "cold frosty morning," which was doubtlessly the result, we may observe _en pa.s.sant_, as a matter of domestic economy, aimed at by the author.

It is not so easy to give a similar explanation to the game of the mulberry-bush, conducted in the same manner:

Here we go round the mulberry-bush, -The mulberry-bush, the mulberry-bush: Here we go round the mulberry-bush On a sunshiny morning.

In this game, the motion-cries are usually "This is the way we wash our clothes," "This is the way we dry our clothes," "This is the way we make our shoes," "This is the way we mend our shoes," "This is the way the gentlemen walk," "This is the way the ladies walk," &c. As in other cases, the dance may be continued by the addition of cries and motions, which may be rendered pretty and characteristic in the hands of judicious actors. This game, however, requires too much exercise to render it so appropriate to the season as the other.

THE GAME OF DUMP.

A boy's amus.e.m.e.nt in Yorkshire, in vogue about half a century ago, but now, I believe, nearly obsolete. It is played in this manner. The lads crowd round, and place their fists endways the one on the other, till they form a high pile of hands. Then a boy who has one hand free, knocks the piled fists off one by one, saying to every boy, as he strikes his fist away, "What's there, Dump?" He continues this process till he comes to the last fist, when he exclaims:

What's there?

Cheese and bread, and a mouldy halfpenny!

Where's my share?

I put it on the shelf, and the cat got it.

Where's the cat?

She's run nine miles through the wood.

Where's the wood?

T' fire burnt it.

Where's the fire?

T' water sleckt (extinguished) it.

Where's the water?