The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland Volume I Part 16

-Deptford (Miss Chase).

III. How many horses has your father got in his stables?

Three.

What colour are they?

Red, white, and grey.

Then turn about, and twist about, and catch whom you may.

-Cornwall (_Folk-lore Journal_, v. 57, 58).

IV. Antony Blindman kens ta me Sen I bought b.u.t.ter and cheese o' thee?

I ga' tha my pot, I ga' tha my pan, I ga' tha a' I hed but a rap ho'penny I gave a poor oald man.

-c.u.mberland (d.i.c.kinson's _Glossary_).

(_b_) In the Deptford version one of the players is blindfolded. The one who blindfolds ascertains that the player cannot see by putting the first question. When the players are satisfied that the blindfolding is complete, the dialogue follows, and the blind man is turned round three times. The game is for him to catch one of the players, who is blindfolded in turn if the blind man succeeds in guessing who he is.

Players are allowed to pull, pinch, and buffet the blind man.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

(_c_) This sport is found among the illuminations of an old missal formerly in the possession of John Ives, cited by Strutt in his _Manners and Customs_. The two ill.u.s.trations are facsimiles from drawings in one of the Bodleian MSS., and they indicate the complete covering of the head, and also the fact that the game was played by adults. Gay says concerning it-

As once I play'd at _blindman's-buff_, it hap't, _About my eyes the towel thick was wrapt._ _I miss'd the swains, and seiz'd on Blouzelind._

And another reference is quoted by Brand (ii. 398)-

Sometyme the one would goe, sometyme the other, Sometymes all thre at once, and sometyme neither; Thus they with him play at boyes blynde-man-bluffe.

-_The Newe Metamorphosis_, 1600, MS.

Other names for this game are "Belly Mantie," "Billy Blind,"

"Blind Bucky Davy," "Blind Harie," "Blind Hob," "Blind Nerry Mopsey,"

"Blind Palmie," "Blind Sim," "Buck Hid," "Chacke Blynd Man,"

"Hoodle-c.u.m-blind," "Hoodman Blind," "Hooper's Hide," "Jockie Blind Man."

(_d_) There is some reason for believing that this game can be traced up to very ancient rites connected with prehistoric worship. The name "Billy Blind" denoted the person who was blindfolded in the game, as may be seen by an old poem by Lyndsay, quoted by Jamieson:

War I ane King I sould richt sone mak reformatioun Farlyeand thairof your grace sould richt sone finde That Preistis sall leid yow lyke are bellye blinde.

And also in Clerk's _Advice to Luvaris_:

Sum festnit is and ma not fle, Sum led is lyk the belly blynd With luve, war bettir lat it be.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

"It is probable," says Jamieson, "that the term is the same as Billy Blynde, said to be the name of a familiar spirit or good genius somewhat similar to the brownie." Professor Child identifies it with Odin, the blind deity. Another name in Scotland is also "Blind Harie," which is not the common Christian name "Harry," because this was not a name familiar in Scotland. Blind Harie may therefore, Jamieson thinks, arise from the rough or hairy attire worn by the princ.i.p.al actor. Auld Harie is one of the names given to the devil, and also to the spirit Brownie, who is represented as a hairy being. Under "Coolin," a curious Highland custom is described by Jamieson, which is singularly like the game of "Belly Blind," and a.s.sists in the conclusion that the game has descended from a rite where animal G.o.ds were represented. Sporting with animals before sacrificing them was a general feature at these rites. It is known that the Church opposed the people imitating beasts, and in this connection it is curious to note that in South Germany the game is called _blind bock_, i. e., "blind goat," and in German _blinde kuhe_, or "blind cow." In Scotland, one of the names for the game, according to A. Scott's poems, was "Blind Buk":

Blind buk! but at the bound thou schutes, And them forbeirs that the rebutes.

It may therefore be conjectured that the person who was hoodwinked a.s.sumed the appearance of a goat, stag, or cow by putting on the skin of one of those animals.

He who is twice crowned or touched on the head by the taker or him who is hoodwinked, instead of once only, according to the law of the game, is said to be _brunt_ (burned), and regains his liberty.-Jamieson.

Blind Man's Stan

A boys' game, played with the eggs of small birds. The eggs are placed on the ground, and the player who is blindfolded takes a certain number of steps in the direction of the eggs; he then slaps the ground with a stick thrice in the hope of breaking the eggs; then the next player, and so on.-Patterson's _Antrim and Down Glossary_.

Blind Nerry-Mopsey

The Whitby name for "Blind Man's Buff."-Robinson's _Glossary_.

Blind Palmie or Pawmie

One of the names given to the game of "Blindman's Buff."-Jamieson.

Blind Sim

Suffolk name for "Blind Man's Buff."-Forby's _Vocabulary of East Anglia_.

Block, Haimmer (Hammer), and Nail

This is a boys' game, and requires seven players. One boy, the Block, goes down on all fours; another, the Nail, does the same behind the Block, with his head close to his _a posteriori_ part. A third boy, the Hammer, lies down on his back behind the two. Of the remaining four boys one stations himself at each leg and one at each arm of the Hammer, and he is thus lifted. He is swung backwards and forwards three times in this position by the four, who keep repeating "Once, twice, thrice."

When the word "Thrice" is repeated, the _a posteriori_ part of the Hammer is knocked against the same part of the Nail. Any number of knocks may be given, according to the humour of the players.-Keith (Rev.

W. Gregor).

A fellow lies on all fours-this is the Block; one steadies him before-this is the Study; a third is made a Hammer of, and swung by boys against the Block (Mactaggart's _Gallovidian Encyclopaedia_). Patterson (_Antrim and Down Glossary_) mentions a game, "Hammer, Block, and Bible," which is probably the same game.

Blow-point

Strutt considers this to have been a children's game, played by blowing an arrow through a trunk at certain numbers by way of lottery (_Sports_, p. 403). Nares says the game was blowing small pins or points against each other, and probably not unlike "Push-pin." Marmion in his _Antiquary_, 1641, says: "I have heard of a n.o.bleman that has been drunk with a tinker, and of a magnifico that has played at blow-point." In the _Comedy of Lingua_, 1607, act iii., sc. 2, Anamnestes introduces Memory as telling "how he played at blowe-point with Jupiter when he was in his side-coats." References to this game are also made in _Apollo Shroving_, 1627, p. 49; and see Hawkins' _English Drama_, iii. 243.

See "Dust-Point."

Bob Cherry

A children's game, consisting in jumping at cherries above their heads and trying to catch them with their mouths (Halliwell's _Dictionary_).

It is alluded to in Herrick's _Hesperides_ as "Chop Cherry." Major Lowsley describes the game as taking the end of a cherry-stalk between the teeth, and holding the head perfectly level, trying to get the cherry into the mouth without using the hands or moving the head (_Berkshire Glossary_). It is also mentioned in Peac.o.c.k's _Manley and Corringham Glossary_. Strutt gives a curious ill.u.s.tration of the game in his _Sports and Pastimes_, which is here reproduced from the original MS. in the British Museum.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The Staffordshire St. Clement Day custom (Poole's _Staffordshire Customs, &c._, p. 36) and the northern Hallowe'en custom (Brockett's _North-Country Words_) probably indicate the origin of this game from an ancient rite.