The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland Volume Ii Part 6

XIII. Oranges and lemons, The bells of St. Clement's; I owe you five farthings, And when will you pay me?

Oh, that I can't tell you; Sim, Bim, bim, bow, bay.

-Settle, Yorks. (Rev. W. E. Sykes).

XIV. Oranges or lemons, The bells of St. Clement's; You owe me five farthings, Pray, when will you pay me?

Here come the clappers to knock you down backwards, carwoo!

-Suffolk (Mrs. Haddon).

XV. Oranges and lemons, say the bells of St. Clement's; Brick dust and tiles, say the bells of St. Giles; You owe me three farthings, say the bells of St. Martin's; When will you pay me? say the bells of Old Bailey; When I grow rich, say the bells of Sh.o.r.editch; When will that be? say the bells of Stepney; I'm sure I don't know, says the Great Bell of Bow.

-Perth (Rev. W. Gregor).

XVI. Pancakes and fritters, Says the bells of St. Peter's; Where must we fry 'em?

Says the bells of Cold Higham; In yonder land thurrow (furrow), Says the bells of Wellingborough; You owe me a shilling, Says the bells of Great Billing; When will you pay me?

Says the bells of Widdleton Cheney; When I am able, Say the bells at Dunstable; That will never be, Says the bells at Coventry; Oh, yes, it will, Says Northampton Great Bell; White bread and sop, Says the bells at Kingsthorp; Trundle a lantern, Says the bells at Northampton.

-Northamptonshire (Baker's _Words and Phrases_).

(_c_) This game is generally played as follows:-

Two of the taller children stand facing each other, holding up their clasped hands. One is named Orange and the other Lemon. The other players, grasping one another's dresses, run underneath the raised arms and round Orange, and then under the arms again and round Lemon, while singing the verses. The three concluding lines are sung by "Orange" and "Lemon" in a slow emphatic manner, and at the word "head" they drop their arms over one of the children pa.s.sing between them, and ask her secretly whether she will be _orange_ or _lemon_. The captive chooses her side, and stands behind whichever leader she selects, placing her arms round her waist. The game continues till every one engaged in it has ranged herself behind one or other of the chiefs. When the two parties are ranged a "tug of war" takes place until one of the parties breaks down, or is pulled over a given mark.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3]

In the Middles.e.x version (Miss Winfield) the children form a ring and go round singing the verses, and apparently there is neither catching the "last man" nor the "tug." Mr. Emslie says he has seen and played the game in Middles.e.x, and it always terminated with the cutting off the last man's head. In the Symondsbury version the players drop their hands when they say "Sunday." No tug is mentioned in the first Earls Heaton version of the game (Mr. Hardy). In the second version he says bells are represented by children. They should have in their hands, bells, or some article to represent them. All stand in a row. First, second, and third bells stand out in turn to sing. All rush for bells to sing chorus. Miss Barclay writes: The children of the Fernham and Longcot choir, playing on Christmas Eve, 1891, pulled across a handkerchief. In Monton, Lancashire, Miss Dendy says the game is played as elsewhere, but without words. In a Swaffham version (Miss Matthews), the girls sometimes call themselves "Plum pudding and roast beef," or whatever fancy may suggest, instead of oranges and lemons. They join hands high enough for the others to pa.s.s under, which they do to a call of "Ducky, Ducky,"

presently the hands come down and catch one, who is asked in _confidence_ which she likes best. The game then proceeds in the usual way, one side trying to pull the other over a marked line. Oranges and lemons at Bocking, Ess.e.x, is an abbreviated variant of the rhyme printed by Halliwell (_Folk-lore Record_, iii., part II., 171). In Nottinghamshire, Miss Peac.o.c.k says it is sometimes called "Tarts and Cheesecakes." Moor (_Suffolk Words_) mentions "Oranges and Lemons" as played by both girls and boys, and adds, "I believe it is nearly the same as 'Plum Pudding and Roast Beef.'" In the Suffolk version sent by Mrs. Haddon a new word is introduced, "carwoo." This is the signal for one of the line to be caught. Miss Eddleston, Gainford, Durham, says this game is called-

Through and through the shally go, The last shall be taken.

Mr. Halliwell (_Nursery Rhymes_, No. cclx.x.xi.) adopts the verses ent.i.tled, "The Merry Bells of London," from Gammer Gurton's _Garland_, 1783, as the origin of this game. In Aberdeen, Mr. M. L. Rouse tells me he has heard Scotch children apparently playing the same game, "Oranges and Lemons, ask, Which would you have, 'A sack of corn or a sack of coals?'"

(_d_) This game indicates a contest between two opposing parties, and a punishment, and although in the game the sequence of events is not at all clear, the contest taking place after the supposed execution, these two events stand out very clearly as the chief factors. In the endeavour to ascertain who the contending parties were, one cannot but be struck with the significance of the bells having different saint's names. Now the only places where it would be probable for bells to be a.s.sociated with more than one saint's name within the circuit of a small area are the old parish units of cities and boroughs. Bells were rung on occasions when it was necessary or advisable to call the people together. At the ringing of the "alarm bell" the market places were quickly filled by crowds of citizens; and by turning to the customs of these places in England, it will be found that contest games between parishes, and between the wards of parishes, were very frequent (see Gomme's _Village Community_, pp. 241-243). These contests were generally conducted by the aid of the football, and in one or two cases, such as at Ludlow, the contest was with a rope, and, in the case of Derby, it is specially stated that the victors were announced by the joyful ringing of their parish bells. Indeed, Halliwell has preserved the "song on the bells of Derby on football morning" (No. clxix.) as follows:-

Pancake and fritters, Say All Saints and St. Peter's; When will the _ball_ come, Say the bells of St. Alkmun; At two they will throw, Says Saint Werabo; O! very well, Says little Michel.

This custom is quite sufficient to have originated the game, and the parallel which it supplies is evidence of the connection between the two. Oranges and lemons were, in all probability, originally intended to mean the _colours_ of the two contesting parties, and not _fruits_ of those names. In contests between the people of a town and the authority of baron or earl, the adherents of each side ranged themselves under and wore the colours of their chiefs, as is now done by political partizans.

The rhymes are probably corrupted, but whether from some early cries or calls of the different parishes, or from sentences which the bells were supposed to have said or sung when tolled, it is impossible to say. The "clemming" of the bells in the Norfolk version (No. 5) may have originated "St. Clements," and the other saints have been added at different times. On the other hand, the general similarity of the rhymes indicates the influence of some particular place, and, judging by the parish names, London seems to be that place. If this is so, the main incident of the rhymes may perhaps be due to the too frequent distribution of a traitor's head and limbs among different towns who had taken up his cause. The exhibitions of this nature at London were more frequent than at any other place. The procession of a criminal to execution was generally accompanied by the tolling of bells, and by torches. It is not unlikely that the monotonous chant of the last lines, "Here comes a light to light you to bed," &c., indicates this.

'Otmillo

A boy (A) kneels with his face in another's (B) lap; the other players standing in the background. They step forward one by one at a signal from B, who says to each in turn-

'Otmillo, 'Otmillo, Where is this poor man to go?

A then designates a place for each one. When all are despatched A removes his face from B's knees, and standing up exclaims, "Hot! Hot!

Hot!" The others then run to him, and the laggard is blinded instead of A.-Warwickshire (Northall's _Folk Rhymes_, p. 402).

This is probably the same game as "Hot c.o.c.kles," although it apparently lacks the hitting or buffeting the blinded wizard.

Over Clover

The name for the game of "Warner" in Oxfordshire. They have a song used in the game commencing-

Over clover, Nine times over.

-Halliwell's _Dictionary_.

See "Stag Warning."

Paddy from Home

[Music]

-Long Eaton, Notts. (Miss Youngman).

Paddy from home has never been, A railway train he's never seen, He longs to see the great machine That travels along the railway.

-Long Eaton, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire borders (Miss Youngman).

(_c_) The children form a ring, and hold in their hands a string tied at the ends, and on which a ring is strung. They pa.s.s the ring from one to another, backwards and forwards. One child stands in the centre, who tries to find the holder of the ring. Whoever is discovered holding it takes the place of the child in the centre.

(_d_) This game is similar to "Find the Ring." The verse is, no doubt, modern, though the action and the string and ring are borrowed from an older game. Another verse used for the same game at Earl's Heaton (Mr.

Hardy) is-

The ring it is going; Oh where? oh where?

I don't care where, I can't tell where.

Paip

Three cherry stones are placed together, and another above them. These are all called a castle. The player takes aim with a cherry stone, and when he overturns the castle he claims the spoil.-Jamieson. See "Cob Nut."

Pallall

A Scottish name for "Hop Scotch."-Jamieson.

Pally Ully