The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland Volume I Part 36

We'll borrow a horse and steal a gig, And round the world we'll have a jig, And I'll do all that ever I can To follow my gable 'oary man.

-Earls Heaton, Yorks (Herbert Hardy).

II. Holy Gabriel, holy man, Rantum roarum reeden man, I'll do all as ever I can To follow my Gabriel, holy man.[3]

-Redhill, Surrey (Miss G. Hope).

III. I sell my bat, I sell my ball, I sell my spinning-wheel and all; And I'll do all that ever I can To follow the eyes of the drummer man.

-Luton, Bedfordshire (Mrs. Ashdown).

(_b_) In the Yorkshire version a ring is formed with one child in the middle as the 'Oary Man. Whatever he, or she, does, all in the ring must mimic, going round and singing at the same time. Any one found late in changing the action or idle in obeying the caperings of the central child becomes the 'Oary Man in place of the child taking that part. Both girls and boys play. In the Redhill version, Holy Gabriel kneels in the middle of the circle. He acts as leader, and always had the fiddle as his instrument, though he now usually plays the pianoforte as his first instrument. The other children choose any instrument they like. Holy Gabriel pretends to play the fiddle, and all the other children play their own instruments until Holy Gabriel changes his to one of theirs, when that one must immediately begin to play the fiddle, and continue until Holy Gabriel takes another instrument or returns to the fiddle.

This is done in vigorous pantomime. In the Luton variant the children sit in a semicircle, the Drummer faces them. He plays the drum; all the other children play on any other instrument they like. If the other players do not at once change their instrument, or neglect to sing the lines, a forfeit is demanded.

(_c_) Mr. Hardy says some sing this game, "Follow my game an holy man."

Mr. Hardy once thought it was the remnant of a goblin story of a h.o.a.ry man of the gable or house-roof, who presided over the destinies of poor cottagers, and he had begun to make out the folk tale. The fairy would sometimes come down, and, playing his antics, compel whomsoever observed him to follow him in a mimicking procession. Miss Hope writes of "Holy Gabriel" that the game is played at Mead Vale, a small village in Surrey, but is unknown at larger villages and towns a few miles off.

Some of the women who played it in their youth say that it began in the Primitive Methodist school at Mead Vale. It is played at Outword, also a remote village, and was introduced there by a stonemason, who stated that he had learned it from a cousin who had been in America. Further inquiry by Miss Hope elicited the fact that the cousin had learned the game, when a boy, in his native place in Lancashire. He did not know whether it was a well-known game there. This information points perhaps to a modern origin, but in such cases it must be borne in mind that people are very fond of suggesting recent circ.u.mstances as the cause of the most ancient traditions or customs. The obvious a.n.a.logy to the incident in the myth of the Pied Piper, and to the Welsh custom at St.

Almedha Church, near Brecknock, recorded by Giraldus Cambrensis, where the imitation of a frenzied leader is carried out as a religious ceremony, rather suggests that in this game we may have a survival of a ceremonial so common among early or uncultured people, the chief incident of which is the frenzied dancing of a G.o.d-possessed devotee.

[3] A variant of the second line is, "Ranting, roaring, heely man." "I suppose he was Irish," said my informant, "as he was named 'Healey'" (Miss G. Hope).

Follow my Leader

This is a boys' game. Any number can take part in it. It requires a good extent of country to play it well. The boy who is the swiftest runner and the best jumper is chosen as Leader. He sets out at a good speed over the fields, tries to jump as many ditches or burns, jumping such from one side to the other again and again, to scramble over d.y.k.es, through hedges, over palings, and run up braes. The others have to follow him as they can. This steeplechase continues till the followers are all tired out.-Keith (Rev. W. Gregor).

This is a very general game among schoolboys, but in Hereford it was a town custom occurring once in seven years on 11th October (_Folk-lore Journal_, v. 75).

Fool, Fool, come to School

This game is played under the name of "Foolie, Foolie" at Duthil, Strathspey. The players are placed in a row, either standing or sitting.

Two are chosen, the one as Namer and the other as Foolie. Foolie withdraws, if not out of sight, at least out of range of hearing. The Namer then gives a name secretly to each player. When this is done, he calls on Foolie-Foolie, Foolie, come to your schoolie.

Foolie pays no attention to this call. It is again repeated, but with the same results. This goes on for several times. At last the Namer calls out-

Foolie, Foolie, come to your schoolie; Your bannocks are burnin' an' ready for turnin'.

Foolie always obeys this call, comes and stations himself beside the Namer. A little chaffing generally goes on against Foolie. The Namer says, "Come chise me oot, come chise me in, tae" so and so, naming one by the a.s.sumed fancy name. Foolie makes choice of one. If the choice falls right, the one so chosen steps from the line and stands beside Foolie. If the choice falls wrong, the one named remains in the line.

All the players' names are called out in this way. If any stand unchosen by Foolie, the Namer then goes up to each and asks if he wants, _e.g._, "an aipple," "an orange," "a kirk," "a cottage," &c. Each one whispers what he wants. The same question is put to Foolie. If he answers, _e.g._, "orange," the one so named steps out and stands beside Foolie.

All not first chosen are gone over in this way. Those left unchosen take their stand beside the Namer. There is then a tug-of-war, with the Namer and Foolie as the leaders.-Keith (Rev. W. Gregor).

In Hants the children stand _vis-a-vis_, as in a country dance. One of the number is sent out of earshot, and the others decide with the Captain as to the name of the bird each wishes to personate. The Captain then calls to the child who is out, "Tom Fool, Tom Fool, come home from school, and pick me out a blackbird," "cuckoo," or other bird.

If Tom Fool is wrong in his guessing after three trials, he is condemned to run the gauntlet, being pelted with gloves or handkerchiefs not too mercifully.-Bitterne, Hants (Miss Byford).

In Suss.e.x there is the same action with the following words, but there is no chasing or hitting-

Of all the birds in the air, Of all the fishes in the sea, You can pick me out [ ]

If the children fail to do so, they say-

Poor fool, been to school, Learn more in a week; Been there seven years And hasn't learnt a bit.

-Hurstmonceux, Suss.e.x (Miss Chase).

The same game is played indoors in Cornwall, the reply being-

Fool, fool, go back to school And learn your letters better.

-Cornwall (_Folk-lore Journal_, v. 99-80).

See "Namers and Guessers."

Foot and Over

One boy out of a number stoops in the position for "Leap-frog" at an agreed fixed line. From the players he chooses a Leader and a Foot. The Leader first leaps over the stooping boy at a foot from the line; the other players then leap in turn each at a foot further from the line, the stooping boy moving forward from the line for each player; finally the Foot leaps as far as the distance leapt by the last boy. If this is accomplished, the Leader hops from the line and then leaps; the followers hop and leap each a foot further than each other; finally the Foot hops and leaps as far as the distance covered by the last boy. If this is accomplished, the Leader hops twice and then leaps; the same process going on until one of the boys fails, who then takes the place of the stooping boy, and the game begins again. If the Foot covers any longer distance than the Leader, the Leader stoops down.-Earls Heaton, Yorks. (H. Hardy).

This game is general. Mr. Emslie describes the London version somewhat differently. After all the boys had jumped over the first boy's back, a cry of "Foot it" was raised, and the boy who had given the back placed one of his feet at a right angle to the other, and in this way measured a "foot's length" from the starting-place. All the boys then "overed"

his back from the original line, the last one crying "Foot it," and then the measuring ceremony was again gone through, and the game commenced again, and continued in the same manner until one of the boys failed to "over" the back, when he became Back.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 1st position]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 2nd position]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 3rd position]

Football

The modern game of "Football" is too well known to need description here, and, like "Cricket," it has become no longer a children's game. As to its origin, there are many ball games, such as "Camping," which have been suggested as the original form of "Football." Every school almost had some peculiarity in the method of playing, and Eton, Winchester, Uppingham, and Rugby are well-known examples. It is not a little interesting to note, now that "Football" has settled down into a national game organised by county committees, that one of the forms of play officially recognised is the old Rugby game, the other form, known as the "a.s.sociation," being arrived at by agreement of those interested in the game.

To ill.u.s.trate the ancient origin of the game, and its serious import as a local contest rather than a sport, some examples may be given. It is still (1877) keenly contested at Workington on Easter Tuesday on the banks of, and not unfrequently in, the river Derwent (d.i.c.kinson's _c.u.mberland Glossary_). At Derby there was a football contest between the parishes of All Saints' and St. Peter's. The ball was thrown into the market-place from the Town Hall. The moment it was thrown the "war cries" of the rival parishes began, and the contest, nominally that of a football match, was in reality a fight between the two sections of the town; and the victors were announced by the joyful ringing of their parish bells (Dyer's _Popular Customs_, p. 75). At Chester-le-Street the game was played between what were termed "up-streeters" and "down-streeters," one side endeavouring to get the ball to the top of the town, whilst their opponents tried to keep it near the lower or north end. At one o'clock the ball was thrown out from near the old commercial hotel, the Queen's Head, in the centre of the town, and it has often been received by over three and four hundred people, so great was the interest taken in this ancient sport. At Asborne the struggle was between the "up'ards" and "down'ards." At Dorking the divisions were between the east and west ends of the town, and there was first a perambulation of the streets by the football retinue composed of grotesquely dressed persons. At Alnwick the divisions were the parishes of St. Michael's and St. Paul's. At Kirkwall the contest was on New Year's Day, and was between "up the gates" and "down the gates," the ball being thrown up at the Cross. At Scarborough, on the morning of Shrove Tuesday, hawkers paraded the streets with parti-coloured b.a.l.l.s, which were purchased by all ranks of the community. With these, and armed with sticks, men, women, and children repaired to the sands below the old town and indiscriminately commenced a contest. The following graphic account of Welsh customs was printed in the _Oswestry Observer_ of March 2, 1887: "In South Cardiganshire it seems that about eighty years ago the population, rich and poor, male and female, of opposing parishes, turned out on Christmas Day and indulged in the game of 'Football' with such vigour that it became little short of a serious fight. The parishioners of Cellan and Pencarreg were particularly bitter in their conflicts; men threw off their coats and waistcoats and women their gowns, and sometimes their petticoats. At Llanwenog, an extensive parish below Lampeter, the inhabitants for football purposes were divided into the Bros and the Blaenaus. A man over eighty, an inmate of Lampeter Workhouse, gives the following particulars:-In North Wales the ball was called the Bel Troed, and was made with a bladder covered with a Cwd Tarw. In South Wales it was called Bel Ddu, and was usually made by the shoe-maker of the parish, who appeared on the ground on Christmas Day with the ball under his arm. The Bros, it should be stated, occupied the high ground of the parish. They were nicknamed 'Paddy Bros,' from a tradition that they were descendants from Irish people who settled on the hills in days long gone by. The Blaenaus occupied the lowlands, and, it may be presumed, were pure-bred Brythons. The more devout of the Bros and Blaenaus joined in the service at the parish church on Christmas morning. At any rate, the match did not begin until about mid-day, when the service was finished. Then the whole of the Bros and Blaenaus, rich and poor, male and female, a.s.sembled on the turnpike road which divided the highlands from the lowlands. The ball having been redeemed from the Crydd, it was thrown high in the air by a strong man, and when it fell Bros and Blaenaus scrambled for its possession, and a quarter of an hour frequently elapsed before the ball was got out from among the struggling heap of human beings. Then if the Bros, by hook or by crook, could succeed in taking the ball up the mountain to their hamlet of Rhyddlan they won the day; while the Blaenaus were successful if they got the ball to their end of the parish at New Court. The whole parish was the field of operations, and sometimes it would be dark before either party scored a victory. In the meantime many kicks would be given and taken, so that on the following day some of the compet.i.tors would be unable to walk, and sometimes a kick on the shins would lead the two men concerned to abandon the game until they had decided which was the better pugilist. There do not appear to have been any rules for the regulation of the game; and the art of football playing in the olden time seems to have been to reach the goal. When once the goal was reached, the victory was celebrated by loud hurrahs and the firing of guns, and was not disturbed until the following Christmas Day. Victory on Christmas Day, added the old man, was so highly esteemed by the whole countryside, that a Bro or Blaenau would as soon lose a cow from his cow-house as the football from his portion of the parish."

(_b_) In Gomme's _Village Community_, pp. 241-44, the position of football games as elements in the traditions of race is discussed, and their relationship to a still earlier form of tribal games, where the element of clan feuds is more decidedly preserved, is pointed out.

Forfeits

Forfeits are incurred in those games in which penalties are exacted from players for non-compliance with the rules of the game; "Buff,"

"Contrary," "Crosspurposes," "Fire, Air, and Water," "Follow my Gable,"

"Genteel Lady," "Jack's Alive," "Old Soldier," "Twelve Days of Christmas," "Turn the Trencher," "Wadds," and others. These games are described under their several t.i.tles, and the formula for forfeits is always the same. Small articles belonging to the players must be given by them every time a forfeit is incurred, and these must be redeemed at the close of the game. They are "cried" in the following manner:-One of the players sits on a chair having the forfeits in her lap. A child kneels on the ground and buries his face in his hands on the lap of the person who holds the forfeits. The "crier" then takes up indiscriminately one of the forfeits, and holding it up in the sight of all those who have been playing the games (without the kneeling child seeing it), says-

Here's a very pretty thing and a very pretty thing, And what shall be done to [_or_, by] the owner of this very pretty thing?

The kneeling child then says what the penance is to be. The owner of the forfeit must then perform the penance before the other players, and then another forfeit is "cried."