The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland Volume I Part 57

-Hanbury, Staffordshire (Miss E. Hollis).

XIX. Open the gates as wide as high, And let King George and I go by; It is so dark I cannot see To thread my grandmother's needle.

-Surrey (_Folk-lore Record_, v. 88).

(_b_) There are two methods of playing this game, one in which a King and Queen are represented, and the other in which gates of a city are represented. Of the first Chambers and Mactaggart practically give the same account. The latter says, "Two of the swiftest boys are placed between two 'doons' or places of safety; these, perhaps, are two hundred yards distant. All the other boys stand in one of these places or doons, when the two fleet youths come forward and address them with the rhyme.

When out, they run in hopes to get to Babylon or the other doon, but many get not near that place before they are caught by the runners, who 'taens' them, that is, lay their hands upon their heads, when they are not allowed to run any more in that game, that is, until they all be taened or taken."

The Norfolk game seems to resemble the Scotch, though in a much less complete form. Miss Matthews describes it as follows:-"A line of children is formed, and the two standing opposite it sing the questions, to which the line reply; then the two start off running in any direction they please, and the others try to catch them."

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

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 2.]

The second method of playing is best described by the Rev. Walter Gregor, from the Nairn game, which is known as "The Gates of Babylon."

Mr. Gregor writes as follows:-"This game may be played either by boys or girls. Two of the players join hands, and stand face to face, with their hands in front as if forming a gate. Each of these has a secret name.

The other players form themselves into a line by clasping each other round the waist from behind. They go up to the two that form the gate, and the leader asks the first question, as in version No. 2. The dialogue then proceeds to the end. The two then lift their arms as high as they can, still joined, and the line of players pa.s.ses through. All at once the two bring their arms down on one and make him (or her) prisoner. The prisoner is asked in a whisper, so as not to disclose the secret name, which of the two is to be chosen. The one so captured takes his (or her) stand behind the one chosen. The same process is gone through till all the players are taken captive, and have stationed themselves behind the one or the other of the two forming the gate. The last one of the line goes through three times. The first time the word 'breakfast' is p.r.o.nounced; the second time 'dinner;' and the third time 'supper.' The player then chooses a side. The two sides have then a tug of war. The game ends at this point with girls. With boys the conquered have to run the gauntlet. The victors range themselves in two lines, each boy with his cap or handkerchief tightly plaited in his hand, and pelt with all their might the vanquished as they run between the lines.

The boys of Nairn call this running of the gauntlet, 'through fire an'

watter.'"

The method of playing the Warwick, Fernham, and Louth versions is practically the same. The children stand in half-circle beginning with the two tallest at either end. All clasp hands. The two at one end question those at the other end alternately (fig. 1). At the last line the two that have been answering hold their hands up to form a bridge, and all the others thread through, still holding hands (the bridge advancing slowly) (fig. 2). The Louth version is also sometimes played as "Oranges and Lemons." This is also the case with the Belfast, South Shields, Ellesmere, and Dublin versions. Miss Burne also gives a second method of playing this game at Ellesmere: she says, "The whole number of players stand in two rows facing each other, each player joining hands with the one opposite. The pair at the lower end parley with the pair at the top, and then run under the extended arms of the others, receiving thumps on the back as they go, till they reach the upper end, and become the top couple in their turn." The Hanbury version is played in a similar way. Two lines stand close together holding handkerchiefs across. The questions are asked and answered by the top and bottom players. Then two children run under the line of handkerchiefs. The Dorset version is played by as many as like standing, two and two, opposite each other, each of them taking with the right hand the right hand of the other; then the two that are the King and Queen say or sing the first question, to which the others reply, and the dialogue ends in this manner. Then all the other pairs hold up their hands as high as they can, and the King and Queen run through the archway and back again, and so on with the next pair, and other pairs in turn. The Isle of Man version is played, Mr. Moore says, the same as other "Thread the Needle"

games.

(_c_) The game is evidently dramatic in form, and perhaps is ill.u.s.trative of some fact of history, such as the toll upon merchandise entering a walled town. The changes in the words of the different versions are not very great, but they show the influence of modern history upon the game. The appearance of King George evidently points to the date when it was frequently played, though the older versions are doubtless those in which his Majesty does not do duty. Mactaggart has the following quaint note which perhaps may supply the origin, though it seems a far cry to the Crusaders:-"This sport has something methinks of antiquity in it; it seemeth to be a pantomime of some scenes played off in the time of the Crusades. 'King and Queen o' Cantilon' evidently must be King and Queen of Caledon, but slightly changed by time. Then Babylon in the rhyme, the way they had to wander and hazard being caught by the infidels, all speak as to the foundation of the game" (Mactaggart's _Gallovidian Encyclopaedia_).

In the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for December 1849, in a review of the _Life of Shirley_, it is stated that in many parts of England the old game of "Thread the Needle" is played to the following words, which refer to the gate of the city of Hebron, known as the "needle's eye."

How many miles to Hebron?

Three score and ten.

Shall I be there by midnight?

Yes, and back again.

Then thread the needle, &c.

The game is also described in _Notes and Queries_, iv. 141, as played in the same way as above, and the writer adds there are subsequent evolutions by which each couple becomes in succession the eye of the needle.

Howly

A street game played by boys in a town, one of them hiding behind a wall or house-end, and crying "Howly" to the seekers.-Atkinson's _Cleveland Glossary_.

See "Hide and Seek."

Huckie-buckie down the Brae

Children in Lothian have a sport in which they slide down a hill, sitting on their hunkers (Jamieson). The well-known custom at Greenwich is probably the same game, and there are examples at Tumbling Hill, a few miles from Exeter, at May Pole Hill, near Gloucester, and other places.

Huckle-bones

Holloway (_Dict. of Provincialisms_) says that the game is called "Huckle-bones" in East Suss.e.x and "Dibs" in West Suss.e.x. Parish (_Dict.

of Suss.e.x Dialect_) mentions that huckle-bones, the small bone found in the joint of the knee of a sheep, are used by children for playing the game of "Dibs;" also Peac.o.c.k's _Manley and Corringham Glossary_. Barnes (_Dorset Glossary_) says, "A game of toss and catch, played mostly by two with five dibs or huckle-bones of a leg of mutton, or round pieces of tile or slate." Halliwell's description is clearly wrong. He says it was a game formerly played by throwing up the hip-bone of some animal, on one side of which was a head of Venus and on the other that of a dog.

He who turned up the former was the winner (_Dictionary_). Miss J.

Barker writes that "Huckle-bones" is played in Hexham; and Professor Attwell (Barnes) played the game as a boy, and is still a proficient in it; he played it recently for my benefit with his set of real huckle-bones (A. B. Gomme); and see _Notes and Queries_, 9th ser., iv.

378, 379.

The figures or sets are practically the same as those described under "Fivestones." The game is very ancient. In the _Sanctuarie of Salvation_, &c., translated from the Latin of Levinus Lemnius by Henry Kinder (8vo, London, printed by H. Singleton), p. 144, we read, "These bones are called 'huckle-bones' or 'coytes.'" For further information relating to this game, as played by the ancients, the reader may consult _Joannis Meursii Ludibunda, sive de Ludis Graecorum, Liber singularis_ (8vo, Lugd. Bat. 1625), p. 7, and _Dan. Souterii Palamedes_, p. 81; but more particularly, _I Tali ed altri Strumenti lusori degli antichi Romani, discritti da Francesco de 'Ficoroni_, 4to, Rom. 1734. Against the suggestion that the modern game is derived directly from the Romans, is the fact that it is known in countries never traversed or occupied by the Romans. Thus Dr. Clarke, in his _Travels in Russia_, 1810, p. 106, says: "In all the villages and towns from Moscow to Woronetz, as in other parts of Russia, are seen boys, girls, and sometimes even old men, playing with the joint-bones of sheep. This game is called 'Dibbs' by the English. It is of very remote antiquity; for I have seen it very beautifully represented on Grecian vases; particularly on a vase in the collection of the late Sir William Hamilton, where a female figure appeared most gracefully delineated kneeling upon one knee, with her right arm extended, the palm downwards, and the bones ranged along the back of her hand and arm. In this manner the Russians play the game."

See "Dalies," "Fivestones."

Hummie

The game otherwise called "Shinty." The shinty or hummie is played by a set of boys in two divisions who attempt to drive with curved sticks a ball, or what is more common, part of the vertebral bone of a sheep, in opposite directions (_Blackwood's Magazine_, August 1821, p. 36). If one of the adverse party happens to stand or run among his opponents, they call out "Hummie, keep on your own side."-Jamieson.

Hundreds

A game at marbles, which is carried on until one of the players scores 100 or some other high number agreed upon. Any number can play, but it is best described for two players, A. and B. First the players taw up to a hole; if both get in, they repeat the process until one is left out, say B.; then A. counts 10. Should both fail, the nearest goes first. He may now lay his taw about the hole or fire at the other, on hitting which he counts another 10. He now goes for the hole again, and failing, lies where he happens to stop. If he misses, B. from his present position tries to get into the hole, and failing, lies still; but if he reaches the hole, he counts 10, and proceeds as A. had done. The one who first gets the 100 (or other number) now goes in for his "pizings,"

which performance takes place thus:-The loser, so far, is lying about, and the winner goes back to "drakes," and again tries to lodge in the hole; and if he succeeds, the game is up. If not, he lies still, and the loser tries for the hole; if he gets in he counts another 10, or if he should succeed in hitting the winner he scores his adversary's 100 to his own number, and then goes on for his "pizings" as the other had done. In failure of either securing the game thus, the process is repeated at "drakes." When, however, the one who is on for his "pizings"

manages to taw into the hole, the game is concluded.-Easther's _Almondbury and Huddersfield Glossary_.

Hunt the Hare

A game among children, played on the ice as well as in the fields (Brockett's _North Country Words_). Strutt (_Sports_, p. 381) says "Hunt the Hare" is the same game as "Hunt the Fox." In this game one boy is permitted to run out, and having law given to him-that is, being permitted to go to a certain distance from his comrades before they pursue him-their object is to take him, if possible, before he can return home.

See "Hare and Hounds."

Hunt the Slipper

[Music]

-Lancashire (Mrs. Harley).

All the players but one sit on the floor in a circle with their legs crossed (Turkish fashion), one acting as Chief, all pretending to work at making or mending shoes. The other player brings a slipper to the Chief Cobbler, and desires it to be mended, saying-

Cobbler, cobbler, mend my shoe, Get it done by half-past two.

The child walks away, and returns in a few moments and asks whether the shoe is ready. The Cobbler says, "Not quite; call again in an hour's time," or makes any other excuse which occurs to him. When the child calls again, she is told it has been sent home. After several pretences the child declares an intention to search for it. The Cobblers in the ring then all place their hands under their knees, and pa.s.s the slipper secretly from one to another in such a way as to prevent the owner of the shoe getting it for some time. The Cobbler from whom the slipper is taken becomes the owner next time (Barnes, A. B. Gomme). In the Nottinghamshire version (Miss Peac.o.c.k) the rhyme is-

Cobbler, cobbler, mend my shoe, Give it a st.i.tch and that will do.

Versions from Wakefield, Liphook, Ellesmere, and other places are practically the same as the Barnes game, but Mr. Udal gives an elaboration of the Dorsetshire game in the _Folk-lore Journal_, vii.

238. One Lancashire version (Miss Dendy) reverses the characters by making the Cobbler run round the ring, and the children requiring the shoe to be mended, call out, "Blackie, come mend my slipper." Mrs.

Harley, in another Lancashire version, gives the words sung to the tune printed as-