The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland Volume I Part 35

Fippeny Morrell

"Twice three stones, set in a crossed square, where he wins the game that can set his three along in a row, and that is fippeny morrell I trow."-_Apollo Shroving_, 1626.

See "Nine Men's Morice," "Noughts and Crosses."

Fire, Air, and Water

The players seat themselves in a circle. One of the players has a ball, to which a string is fastened. He holds the string that he may easily draw the ball back again after it is thrown. The possessor of the ball then throws it to one in the circle, calling out the name of either of the elements he pleases. This player must, before ten can be counted, give the name of an inhabitant of that element. When "Fire" is called, strict silence must be observed or a forfeit paid.-Cork, Ireland (Miss Keane).

The players were seated in a half-circle, and the possessor of the ball faced the others. There was no string attached to the ball, but it was necessary that it should hit the child it was thrown to. When "Fire" was called, "Salamander" and "Phnix" were allowed to be said. The third time "Fire" was called, silence was observed, and every player bowed the head. We called it "Earth, Air, Fire, and Water." A forfeit had to be paid for every mistake.-London (A. B. Gomme).

It seems probable that a survival of fire-worship is shown by this game.

Fivestones

This game was played by a newspaper boy at Richmond Station for me as follows:-He had five square pieces of tile or stone about the size of dice. He took all five pieces in the palm of the hand first, then threw them up and caught them on the back of the hand, and then from the back of the hand into the palm. Four of the stones were then thrown on the ground; the fifth was thrown up, one stone being picked up from the ground, and the descending fifth stone caught in the same hand; the other three pieces were next picked up in turn. Then two were picked up together in the same manner twice, then one, then three, then all four at once, the fifth stone being thrown up and caught with each movement.

All five were then thrown up and caught on the back of the hand, and then thrown from the back and caught in the palm. When he dropped one, he picked it up between his outstretched fingers while the other stones remained on the back of the hand; then he tossed and caught it likewise.

Then after throwing up the five stones and catching them on the back of the hand and the reverse, all five being kept in the palm, one was thrown up, and another deposited on the ground before the descending stone was caught. This was done to the three others in turn. Then with two at a time twice, then one and three, then all four together, then from the palm to the back of the hand, and again to the palm. This completed one game. If mistakes were made another player took the stones. Marks were taken for successful play. This boy called the game "Dabs."-A. B. Gomme.

In South Notts this game was called "Sn.o.bs." It was played with small stones or marbles. There were nine sets of tricks. First One-ers (of which there were five in the set), then Two-ers (two in set), Three-ers (three in set), Four-ers (four in set), Four Squares (four in set), Trotting Donkeys (eight in set, I believe), Fly-catchers (six or seven in set), Magic (five in set), and Magic Fly-catchers (five in set).

One-ers is played thus:-The five stones are thrown into the air and caught on the back of the hand. If all are caught they are simply tossed up again and caught in the hollow of the hand, but if any are not caught they have to be picked up, one by one, another stone being at the same time thrown into the air and caught with the one picked up in the hand.

Two-ers, Three-ers, and Four-ers, are played in the same way, except that the stones not caught on the back of the hand have to be arranged in twos, threes, and fours respectively by the hand on which the caught stones are lying meanwhile, and then each lot has to be picked up altogether. If the number that fall when the stones are first thrown up won't allow of this, the player has to drop the required number (but no more) from his hand. In Magic the play is just the same as in One-ers, except that instead of only throwing up a single stone and catching it as the others are in turn picked up, the whole number, except those remaining to be picked up, are thrown and caught. In Four Squares, four of the stones are arranged in a square, each of them is then picked up, whilst the remaining stone is flung upwards and caught; the one picked up is then tossed up, and the one originally tossed up is put down in the place of the other, which is caught as it descends, and the process repeated "all round the square." Trotting Donkeys is similarly played, except that the four stones are arranged in a line-not in a square-and I believe there is some other slight difference, but I forget what.

Fly-catchers is played like One-ers, except that the stone thrown into the air while the others are being picked up, is not simply caught by being allowed to fall into the hand, but by an outward movement of the hand is _pounced on_, hawk-fashion, from above. Magic Fly-catchers is played in precisely the same way, except that as in simple Magic, not one stone, but all are thrown up and caught-that is, if there are four on the ground one only is thrown up for the first, two for the second, three for the third, and so on until they are all picked up. This is, of course, the most difficult part of all, and, in fact, only experts were expected to do it. Every failure means "out," and then your opponent has his turn. The winner is the one who gets through first. Such is the game as I remember it, but I have an uneasy suspicion that I have missed something out. I seem to remember one trick in which all the stones on the ground had to be picked up at once _where they lay_-scrambled up so to speak. Or it may be (and, in fact, I think it was) that sometimes, to add to the difficulty of the game, we picked up the groups of two, three, and four in Two-ers, Three-ers, and Four-ers in this fashion, instead of first placing them together.-Epworth, Doncaster (C. C. Bell).

In Wakefield the set of pot checks, which represents five hucklebones, now consists of four checks and a ball about the size of a large marble.

The checks are something like dice, but only two opposite sides are plain, the other four being fluted. The table played on is generally a doorstep, and it is made ready by drawing a ring upon it with anything handy which will make a mark. There are twelve figures or movements to be gone through as follows. Some have special names, but I do not learn that all have.

1. The player, taking the checks and ball in the right hand, throws down the checks, keeping the ball in the hand. If any check fall outside the ring the player is "down." There is skill needed in the throwing of the checks in this and the following movements, so that they may be conveniently placed for taking up in the proper order. The checks being scattered, the player throws up the ball, takes up one check, and catches the ball as it comes down, or, as it is sometimes played, after it has bounced once from the step. This is repeated till all the checks are taken up.

2. As the last figure, but the checks are taken up two at a throw.

3. As the last, but at the first throw one check, called the Horse, is taken up, and at the second the remaining three checks at once, called the Cart.

4. As before, but all the checks taken up together.

5. Called Ups and Downs. The checks are taken up at one throw, and set down outside the ring at the next. This is done first with one, then with two, and so on.

6. Each check is touched in turn as the ball is thrown.

7. The checks are separately pushed out of the ring.

8. Each check in turn is taken up and knocked against the ground.

9. Each check is taken up and tapped upon another.

10. The checks are first arranged three in a line, touching each other, and the fourth placed at the top of that at one end of the row. This is called the Cradle. It has to be taken down check by check, and if, in taking one, another is moved, the player is out.

11. Like the last, but the checks are put one above another to make a Chimney.

12. Called the Dish-clout-I know not why, unless it be that it wipes up the game. The movement used in taking up the checks is thus described:-"Take hold of the sleeve of the right hand with the left; throw up the ball, and twist your right hand underneath and over your left, and catch the ball. With the hand still twisted throw up the ball and untwist and catch it." The checks are picked up in the course of the twisting.

These I am told are the orthodox movements; and I do not doubt that in them there is much of very old tradition, although the tenth and eleventh must have been either added or modified since pot checks came into use, for the figures could not be built up with the natural bones.

Some other movements are sometimes used according to fancy, as for example the clapping of the ground with the palm of the hand before taking up the checks and catching the ball.-J. T. Micklethwaite (_Arch.

Journ._, xlix. 327-28).

I am told that in the iron districts of Staffordshire, the round bits of iron punched out in making rivet holes in boiler plates are the modern representatives of hucklebones.-_Ibid._

In Westminster four stones are held in the right hand, a marble is thrown up, and all four stones thrown down, and the marble allowed to bounce on the hearthstone or pavement, and then caught in the same hand after it has rebounded. The marble is then thrown up again, and one of the four stones picked up, and the marble caught again after it has rebounded. This is done separately to the other three, bringing all four stones into the hand. The marble is again bounced, and all four stones thrown down and the marble caught. Two stones are then picked up together, then the other two, then one, then three together, then all four together, the marble being tossed and caught with each throw. An arch is then formed by placing the left hand on the ground, and the four stones are again thrown down, the marble tossed, and the four stones put separately into the arch, the marble being caught after it has rebounded each time; or the four stones are separately put between the fingers of the left hand in as straight a row as possible. Then the left hand is taken away, and the four stones caught up in one sweep of the hand. Then all four stones are thrown down, and one is picked up before the marble is caught. This is retained in the hand, and when the second stone is picked up the first one is laid down before the marble is caught; the third is picked up and the second laid down, the fourth picked up and the third laid down, then the fourth laid down, the marble being tossed and caught again each time. The stones have different names or marks (which follow in rotation), and in picking them up they must be taken in their proper order, or it is counted as a mistake. The game is played throughout by the right hand, the left hand only being used when "arches" is made. The marble should be thrown up about the same height each toss, and there should be little or no interval between the different figures.-Annie d.i.c.ker.

I saw this game played in Endell Street, London, W.C., by two girls.

Their game was not so long nor so complete as the above. They did not throw all four stones down as a preliminary stage, but began with the second figure, the four gobs being placed in a square ?, nor were they particular as to which stones they picked up. They knew nothing of numbering or naming them. Their marble was called a "jack." They had places chalked on the pavement where they recorded their successful "goes," and the game was played in a ring.-A. B. Gomme.

An account sent me from Deptford (Miss Chase) is doubtless the same game. It begins with taking two "gobs" at once, and apparently there are eight stones or gobs to play with. The marble or round stone which is thrown up is called a "tally." The directions for playing are-

We take twoses, We take threeses, We take fourses, We take sixes, We take eights.

Chain eggs-_i.e._, to pick up one and drop it again until this has been done to each stone. Arches-_i.e._, gobs in a row. This was described by the player as "while the tally is up to sweep the whole row or line off the ground into the arch of the finger and thumb before catching the tally."

(_b_) These games are variants of one common original. It is the same game as that described by F. H. Low in the _Strand Magazine_, ii. 514, as played in the London streets. The marble there is called a "buck."

"Pegsy" was the name of the No. 5 stage of the Wakefield version, and this varies too, inasmuch as it was the same gob which is picked up and then laid down before catching the buck.

Mr. Kinahan says, "'Jackstones,' played with three or four small stones that are thrown up in the air and caught again, seems to have been a very ancient game, as the stones have been found in the _crannogs_ or lake-dwellings in some hole near the fireplaces, similar to where they are found in a cabin at the present day. An old woman, or other player, at the present time puts them in a place near the hob when they stop their game and go to do something else" (_Folk-lore Journal_, ii. 266).

In the Graeco-Roman saloon, British Museum, is a statue originally composed of two boys quarrelling at the game of "Tali" (see _Townley Gallery_, i. 305; Smith's _Dict. Greek and Roman Antiq._, s.v. _Talus_), and it is interesting to note that in the Deptford game the marble is called a "Tally."

Mr. Kinahan's note suggests that "Fivestones" may be an independent game, instead of a derivative from "Hucklebones." If this is so, we have interesting evidence of the spread or transmission of one game from at least two centres. Professor Attwell, in _Notes and Queries_, 8th ser., iv. 201, suggests that "Hucklebones" was introduced into Europe by the Romans, and was spread throughout the countries which formed the empire by means of Roman colonists and soldiers. Mr. Newell (_Games_, pp.

190-93) describes a similar game to "Fivestones" played in Boston under the name of "Otadama," or "j.a.panese Jacks." This game is of j.a.panese origin, "Tedama" (that is, "Handb.a.l.l.s") being its proper name. He says there can be no doubt that the two forms of this amus.e.m.e.nt are branches of the same root; and we thus have an example of a game which, having preserved its essential characteristics for thousands of years, has fairly circ.u.mnavigated the globe, so that the two currents of tradition, westward and eastward, from Europe and Asia, have met in America.

See "Checkstones," "Dibs," "Hucklebones," "Jackstones."

Flowers

Sides are chosen; each side must have a "home" at the top and bottom of the ground where the children are playing. One side chooses a flower and goes over to the other side, the members of which stand in a row facing the first side. The first side states the initial letters of the flower it has chosen, and when the second side guesses the right flower they run and try to catch as many of the opposite side as they can before they reach their home. The captives then become members of the side which captured them.-Bitterne, Hants (Mrs. Byford).

Follow my Gable

[Music]

-Earls Heaton, Yorkshire.

[Music]

-Redhill, Surrey.

I. Follow my gable 'oary man, Follow my gable 'oary man, I'll do all that ever I can To follow my gable 'oary man.