The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland Volume I Part 55

At Sheffield a boy is chosen for a Stump, and stands with his back against a wall. Another boy bends his back as in "Leapfrog," and puts his head against the Stump. The cap of the boy who bends down is then taken off, and put upon his back upside down. Then each of the other boys who are playing puts the first finger of his right hand into the cap. When all the fingers are put into the cap, these lines are sung-

The wind blows east, the wind blows west, The wind blows o'er the cuckoo's nest.

Where is this poor man to go?

Over yond cuckoo's hill I O.

Then the boy whose back is bent jumps up, and the others run away crying out, "Hot c.o.c.kles." The boy who is caught by the one whose back was first bent has to bend his back next time, and so on.-S. O. Addy.

At Cork a handkerchief is tied over the eyes of one of the company, who then lays his head on a chair, and places his hand on his back with the palm uppermost. Any of the party come behind him and give him a slap on his hand, he in the meantime trying to discover whose hand it is that strikes.-Miss Keane.

"Hot c.o.c.kles" is an old game, practised especially at Christmas. One boy sits down, and another, who is blindfolded, kneels and lays his head on his knee, placing at the same time his open hand on his own back. He then cries, "Hot c.o.c.kles, hot!" Another then strikes his open hand, and the sitting boy asks who strikes. If the boy guessed wrongly, he made a forfeit; but if rightly, he was released.-_Notes and Queries_, 4th series, ix. 262.

The sport is noticed by Gay-

As at hot-c.o.c.kles once I laid me down, I felt the weighty hand of many a clown; Buxoma gave a gentle tap, and I Quick rose and read soft mischief in her eye.

Halliwell describes it rather differently. The blindfolded boy lies down on his face, and, being struck, must guess who it is that hit him. A good part of the fun consisted in the hardness of the slaps, which were generally given on the throne of honour. He quotes from a MS. play as follows-

It is edicted that every Grobian shall play at Bamberye hott c.o.c.kles at the four festivals.

Indeed a verye usefull sport, but lately much neglected to the mollefieinge of the flesh.

-Halliwell's _Dictionary_.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Nares' _Glossary_ also contains quotations from works of 1639, 1653, and 1697 which ill.u.s.trate the game. Mr. Addy says "that this game as played in Sheffield is quite different from that described under the same t.i.tle in Halliwell's _Dictionary_. Aubrey (p. 30) speaks of 'Hot c.o.c.kles' as a game played at funerals in Yorkshire, and the lines here given show that this was the game. The lines-

Where is this poor man to go?

Over yond cuckoo's hill I O,

embodies the popular belief that the soul winged its way like a bird, and they remind one of the pa.s.sing of the soul over Whinny Moor (see funeral dirge in Aubrey's _Remains of Gentilisme_, p. 31). Grimm mentions the cuckoo hill (Gauchsberg). He says, 'Originally in Gauchsberg the bird himself may very well have been meant in a mystic sense which has fallen dark to us now' (_Teut. Myth._, ii. 681). We know, too, the old belief that the cuckoo tells children how many years they have to live. These lines are also sometimes said, in addition to those given above-

Elder belder, limber lock, Three wives in a clock; Sit and sing, and call a spring, O-u-t spells out.

The boy who bends down is supposed to be undergoing a great penalty."

Strutt (_Sports_, p. 394) describes this game, and gives an ill.u.s.tration which is here reproduced from the original MSS. in the Bodleian.

This game may have originated from a custom at funerals of practising spells for the safe and speedy pa.s.sage of the departing spirit to its destination, or from divination mysteries to foretell who would be the next among the mourners to follow the dead body to the grave. The spirit of prophecy was believed to exist in a dying person. See "Handy Croopen."

How many Miles to Babylon

I. King and Queen of Cantelon, How many miles to Babylon?

Eight and eight and other eight.

Will I get there by candle-light?

If your horse be good and your spurs be bright.

How mony men have ye?

Mae nae ye daur come and see.

-Chambers' _Popular Rhymes_, p. 124; Mactaggart's _Gallovidian Encyclopaedia_.

II. How many miles to Babylon?

Three score and ten.

Will we be there by candle-light?

Yes, and back again.

Open your gates and let us go through.

Not without a beck and a boo.

There's a beck, and there's a boo, Open your gates and let us go through.

-Nairn, Scotland (Rev. W. Gregor).

III. How far to Banbury Cross?

Four score and ten.

Can I get there by candle-light?

Yes, if your legs are long and light.

Please to let me go?

Not without you bend and bow [p.r.o.nounced bo].

Here's my bend [curtseys], And here's my bow [touches forehead], Now will you let me go?

-Fernham and Longcot (Miss I. Barclay).

IV. How many miles to Babylon?

Three score and ten.

Can we get there by candle-light?

Yes, and back again.

Open your gates as wide as you can, And let King George and his family go through.

Not without a back, not without a bow, Not without a curtsey, and then I'll let you through.

-South Shields (Miss Blair).

V. How many miles to Babylon?

Three score and ten.

Can I get there o' candle-light?

There and back again.

Here's my black [raising one foot], And here's my blue [raising the other], Open the gates and let me through.

-Annaverna, Ravendale, co. Louth, Ireland (Miss R. Stephen).

VI. How many miles to Barney Bridge?

Three score and ten.

Will I be there by candle-light?

Yes, if your legs are long.

A curtsey to you, another to you, If you please will you let the king's horses go through?

Yes, but take care of your hindmost man.

-Belfast (W. H. Patterson).

VII. How many miles to Gandigo?

Eighty-eight almost, or quite.