Part 13
They dance round when saying this, all keeping a watch on the Frog, who suddenly makes a rush, and tries to break through the ring.--London (A. B. Gomme).
Strutt describes this game, and gives an illustration from a fourteenth century MS. which is here reproduced from the original (_Sports_, p. 303). Newell (_Games of American Children_, p. 171) also mentions it, and gives the rhyme as--
Frog in the sea, can't catch me!
Gap
The same as "French Jackie." This game is called "Tap-back" or "Tat-back" at Bitterne, Hants.
Garden Gate
Children join hands and form a ring. One child stands inside the ring; this child walks round and asks one of the circle, called the Keeper--
Have you the key of the garden gate? Open and let me go through.
The Keeper replies--
My next-door neighbour's got the key; Ask him and he'll give it to you.
This is repeated by each one in the circle. Then the inside child comes again to the Keeper and says--
None of the neighbours have got the key, So you must let me go through.
The Keeper answers--
I've lost the key of the garden gate, And cannot let you through.
Then all the ring say--
You must stop all night within the gate, Unless you have strength to break through.
The child inside then attempts to break through, and if he succeeds in breaking any of the clasped hands the one who first gives way has to take the place in the centre.--Roxton, St. Neots (Miss Lumley).
See "Bull in the Park."
Gegg
"To smuggle the Gegg," a game played by boys in Glasgow, in which two
## parties are formed by lot, equal in number, the one being denominated
the Outs, the other Ins. The Outs are those who go out from the den or goal, where those called the Ins remain for a time. The Outs get the Gegg, which is anything deposited, as a key, a penknife, &c. Having received this, they conceal themselves, and raise the cry, "Smugglers!" On this they are pursued by the Ins; and if the Gegg (for the name is transferred to the person who holds the deposit) be taken, they exchange situations--the Outs become Ins and the Ins Outs. This play is distinguished from "Hy-spy" only by the use of the Gegg. One of the Ins who is touched by one of the Outs is said to be taken, and henceforth loses his right to hold the Gegg. If he who holds the Gegg gets in the den, the Outs are winners, and have the privilege of getting out again. The Outs, before leaving the den, shuffle the Gegg, or smuggle it so between each other that the Ins do not know which person has it. He who is laid hold of, and put to the question, is supposed to deny that he has the Gegg: if he escapes with it, he gets out again.--Jamieson.
Genteel Lady
A player begins thus:--"I, a genteel lady (or gentleman) came from that genteel lady (or gentleman) to say that she (or he) owned a tree." The other players repeat the words in turn, and then the leader goes over them again, adding, "with bronze bark." The sentence goes round once more, and on the next repetition the leader continues, "with golden branches." He afterwards adds, "and silver leaves," "and purple fruit," "and on the top a milk-white dove," and, finally, "mourning for the loss of his lady-love."
If a player should fail in repeating the rigmarole, there is a fine to pay. A "pipe-lighter" is stuck in her hair, and she must say "one-horned lady" instead of "genteel lady." When a second horn is added, of course she says "two-horned," and so forth. Some players wear half-a-dozen before the conclusion of the game. The game is called "The Wonderful Tree."--Anderby, Lincolnshire (Miss M. Peacock).
In some parts of Yorkshire it is customary to say "no-horned lady" instead of "genteel lady" at the beginning of the game.
When we played this game we said "always genteel" after "genteel lady," and varied the formula. For instance, the first player would say, "I, a genteel lady, always genteel, come from a genteel lady, always genteel, to say she lives in a house with twelve windows," or words were used beginning with the letter A. Each player must repeat this, and add something else in keeping with a house; or sentences had to be made in which words beginning with the letter A must be said, the other players doing the same alphabetically.--London (A. B. Gomme).
Mr. Newell, in writing of this game, says that the "lamp-lighter" or "spill" was lighted when placed in the hair of the players who made mistakes. He does not mention forfeits being exacted.--_Games_, p. 139.
Ghost at the Well
One of the party is chosen for Ghost (if dressed in white so much the better); she hides in a corner; the other children are a mother and daughters. The eldest daughter says:--
"Mother, mother, please give me a piece of bread and butter."
M. "Let me (or 'leave me') look at your hands, child. Why, they are very dirty."
E. D. "I will go to the well and wash them."
She goes to the corner, the Ghost peeps up, and she rushes back, crying out--
"Mother! mother! I have seen a Ghost."
M. "Nonsense, child! it was only your father's nightshirt I have washed and hung out to dry. Go again."
The child goes, and the same thing happens. She returns, saying--
"Yes! mother! I have seen a ghost."
M. "Nonsense, child! we will take a candle, and all go together to search for it."
The mother picks up a twig for a candle, and they set off. When they come near to the Ghost, she appears from her hiding-place, mother and children rush away in different directions, the Ghost chases them until she has caught one, who in her turn becomes Ghost.--West Cornwall (Miss Courtney, _Folk-lore Journal_, v. 55).
This game was "Ghost in the Copper" in London. It was played in the same way as above. Chairs formed the copper, and the ghost crouched down behind. The "Mother" was "washing" at a tub, also formed with two chairs. The eldest daughter was told she could not go to school to-day; she must stop at home and help hang up the clothes. The other children go to play. The Mother said, "Here, Jane, take this (pretending to give her a garment out of the wash-tub) and put it in the copper, and push it down well with the stick." Jane goes to the copper and pretends to take off the lid. When she puts the washed garment in, and pokes down with the stick, the Ghost jumps up. She cries out as above, the Mother saying, "Nonsense, child! it's only some of the boiling clothes." The child goes again, and the game proceeds as above. It is generally played now as "Ghost."--A. B. Gomme. It is mentioned by Newell (_Games_, p. 223).
Giants
A Giant is chosen, and he must be provided with a cave. A summer-house will do, if there is no window for the Giant to see out of. The others then have to knock at the door with their knuckles separately. The Giant rushes when he thinks all the children have knocked, and if he succeeds in catching one before they reach a place of safety (appointed beforehand) the captured one becomes Giant.--Bitterne, Hants (Mrs. Byford). See "Wolf."
Giddy
Giddy, giddy, gander, Who stands yonder? Little Bessy Baker, Pick her up and shake her; Give her a bit of bread and cheese, And throw her over the water.
--Warwickshire.
_(b)_ A girl being blindfolded, her companions join hands and form a ring round her. At the word "Yonder" the blindfolded girl points in any direction she pleases, and at line three names one of the girls. If the one pointed at and the one named be the same, she is the next to be blinded; but, curiously enough, if they be not the same, the one named is the one. Meanwhile, at line four, she is not "picked up," but is shaken by the shoulders by the still blindfolded girl; and at line five she is given by the same "bread and cheese," _i.e._, the buds or young leaves of what later is called "May" (_Cratægus oxyacantha_); and at line six she is taken up under the blinded girl's arm and swung round.--Warwickshire (_Notes and Queries_, 6th Ser., viii. 451).
Gilty-galty (or gaulty)
A boy's game. One boy is chosen, who says:--
Gilty-galty four-and-forty, Two tens make twenty.
He then counts one, two, three, four, &c., up to forty, having his eyes covered by his hands, and the others hide while he is saying the "nominy." At the conclusion he uncovers his eyes, and if he sees any boys not yet hidden they have to stand still. He seeks the rest, but if he moves far away from his place, called the "stooil" (stool), one of the hidden boys may rush out and take it, provided he can get there first. Should he fail in this he also has to stand aside; but if any one succeeds, then all run out as before, and the same boy has to say the "nominy" again. On the other hand, if he finds all the boys without loosing his "stooil," the boy first caught has to take his place and say the "nominy." The game was thus played in 1810, and is so still, both here and at Lepton.--Easther's _Almondbury and Huddersfield Glossary_.
Gipsy
I charge my children, every one, To keep good house while I am gone. You, and you [points], but specially you [or sometimes, but specially Sue], Or else I'll beat you black and blue.
One child is selected for Gipsy, one for Mother, and one for Daughter Sue. The Mother says the lines, and points to several children to emphasise her words. During her absence the Gipsy comes in, entices a child away, and hides her. This process is repeated till all the children are hidden, when the mother has to find them.--Halliwell (_Nursery Rhymes_, p. 228).
See "Mother, Mother, the Pot Boils Over," "Witch."
Gled-wylie
The name of a singular game played at country schools. One of the largest of the boys steals away from his comrades, in an angry-like mood, to some dykeside or sequestered nook, and there begins to work as if putting a pot on a fire. The others seem alarmed at his manner, and gather round him, when the following dialogue takes place:--
They say first to him--
What are ye for wi' the pot, gudeman? Say what are ye for wi' the pot? We dinna like to see ye, gudeman, Sae thrang about this spot.
We dinna like ye ava, gudeman, We dinna like ye ava. Are ye gaun to grow a gled, gudeman? And our necks draw and thraw?
He answers--
Your minnie, burdies, ye maun lae; Ten to my nocket I maun hae; Ten to my e'enshanks, and or I gae lye, In my wame I'll lay twa dizzen o' ye by.
The mother of them, as it were, returns--
Try't than, try't than, do what ye can, Maybe ye maun toomer sleep the night, gudeman; Try't than, try't than, Gled-wylie frae the heugh, Am no sae saft, Gled-wylie, ye'll fin' me bauld and teugh.
After these rhymes are said the chickens cling to the mother all in a string. She fronts the flock, and does all she can to keep the kite from her brood, but often he breaks the row and catches his prey.--Mactaggart's _Gallovidian Encyclopædia_.
Evidently denominated from the common mode of designating the kite among the vulgar (Jamieson). "The Greedy Gled's seeking ye," is one of the lines of a rhyme used in "Hide and Seek" in Edinburgh. Glead, or Gled, is also a Yorkshire and Cheshire name for a kite. "As hungry as a Glead" (_Glossary_, by an Old Inhabitant).--Leigh (_Cheshire Glossary_).
See "Fox and Goose," "Hen and Chickens," "Hide and Seek."
Glim-glam
The play of "Blind Man's Buff."--Banffshire, Aberdeen (Jamieson).
Gobs
A London name for the game of "Hucklebones."
See "Fivestones."
Green Grass
[Music]
--Middlesex (Miss Collyer).
[Music]
--London (A. B. Gomme).
[Music]
--Congleton (Miss A. E. Twemlow).
I. A dis, a dis, a green grass, A dis, a dis, a dis; Come all you pretty fair maids And dance along with us.
For we are going roving, A roving in this land; We'll take this pretty fair maid, We'll take her by the hand.
Ye shall get a duke, my dear, And ye shall get a drake; And ye shall get a young prince, A young prince for your sake.
And if this young prince chance to die, Ye shall get another; The bells will ring, and the birds will sing, And we'll clap hands together.
--Chamber's _Popular Rhymes_, pp. 137-38.
II. A-diss, a-diss, a-green grass, A-diss, a-diss, a-dass; Come, my pretty fair maid, And walk along with us.
For you shall have a dik-ma-day, You shall have a dr[=a]gon; You shall have a nice young man With princes for his th[=e]gan (or s[=e]gan).
--Lanarkshire (W. G. Black).
III. A dish, a dish, a green grass, A dish, a dish, a dish, Come all you pretty maidens And dance along wi' us.
For we are lads a roving, A roving through the land, We'll take this pretty fair maid By her lily white hand.
Ye sall get a duke, my dear, An ye sall get a drake, An ye sall get a bonny prince For your ain dear sake.
And if they all should die, Ye sall get anither; The bells will ring, the birds will sing, And we'll clap our hands together.
--Biggar (W. Ballantyne).
IV. Dissy, dissy, green grass, Dissy, dissy, duss, Come all ye pretty fair maids And dance along with us.
You shall have a duck, my dear, And you shall have a drake, And you shall have a nice young man To love you for your sake.
If this young man should chance to die And leave the girl a widow, The birds shall sing, the bells shall ring, Clap all your hands together.
--Yorkshire (Henderson's _Folk-lore, Northern Counties_, p. 27).
V. Dossy, dossy green grass, Dossy, dossy, doss, Come all ye pretty fair maids And dance upon the grass.
I will give you pots and pans, I will give you brass, I will give you anything For a pretty lass.
I will give you gold and silver, I will give you pearl, I will give you anything For a pretty girl.
Take one, take one, the fairest you can see.
You shall have a duck, my dear, You shall have a drake, You shall have a young man Apprentice for your sake.
If this young man shall wealthy grow And give his wife a feather, The bells shall ring and birds shall sing And we'll all clap hands together.
--Roxton, St. Neots (Miss Lumley).
VI. Walking up the green grass, A dust, a dust, a dust! We want a pretty maiden To walk along with us.
We'll take this pretty maiden, We'll take her by the hand, She shall go to Derby, And Derby is the land!
She shall have a duck, my dear, She shall have a drake, She shall have a nice young man A-fighting for her sake!
Suppose this young man was to die, And leave the poor girl a widow; The bells would ring and we should sing, And all clap hands together!
--Berrington (_Shropshire Folk-lore_, p. 511).
VII. Tripping up the green grass, Dusty, dusty, day, Come all ye pretty fair maids, Come and with me play.
You shall have a duck, my dear, And you shall have a swan, And you shall have a nice young man A waiting for to come.
Suppose he were to die And leave his wife a widow, Come all ye pretty fair maids, Come clap your hands together!
Will you come? No!
Naughty man, he won't come out, He won't come out, he won't come out, Naughty man, he won't come out, To help us in our dancing.
Will you come? Yes!
Now we've got our bonny lad, Our bonny lad, our bonny lad, Now we've got our bonny lad, To help us in our dancing.
--Middlesex (Miss Collyer).
VIII. Stepping on the green grass Thus, and thus, and thus; Please may we have a pretty lass To come and play with us? We will give you pots and pans, We will give you brass,
No!
We will give you anything For a bonny lass.
No!
We will give you gold and silver, We will give you pearl, We will give you anything For a pretty girl.
Yes!
You shall have a goose for dinner, You shall have a darling, You shall have a nice young man To take you up the garden.
But suppose this young man was to die And leave this girl a widow? The bells would ring, the cats would sing, So we'll all clap together.
--Frodingham and Nottinghamshire (Miss M. Peacock).
IX. Stepping up the green grass, Thus, and thus, and thus; Will you let one of your fair maids Come and play with us? We will give you pots and pans, We will give you brass, We will give you anything For a pretty lass.
No!
We won't take your pots and pans, We won't take your brass, We won't take your anything For a pretty lass.
Stepping up the green grass, Thus, and thus, and thus; Will you let one of your fair maids Come and play with us? We will give you gold and silver, We will give you pearl, We will give you anything For a pretty girl.
Yes!
Come, my dearest [Mary], Come and play with us, You shall have a young man Born for your sake. And the bells shall ring And the cats shall sing, And we'll all clap hands together.
--Addy's _Sheffield Glossary_.
X. Up and down the green grass, This, and that, and thus; Come all you fair maids And walk along with us.
Some will give you silver, Some will give you gold, Some will give you anything For a pretty lass.
Don't you think [_boy's name_] Is a handsome young man? Don't you think Miss [_child who has been choosing_] Is as handsome as he?
Then off with the glove And on with the ring; You shall be married When you can agree.
Take hold of my little finger, Maycanameecan, Pray tell me the name Of your young man.
--Hurstmonceux, Sussex (Miss Chase).
XI. Here we come up the green grass, Green grass, green grass, Here we come up the green grass, Dusty, dusty, day.
Fair maid, pretty maid, Give your hand to me, I'll show you a blackbird, A blackbird on the tree.
We'll all go roving, Roving side by side, I'll take my fairest ----, I'll take her for my bride.
Will you come? No!
Naughty miss, she won't come out, Won't come out, won't come out, Naughty miss, she won't come out, To help us with our dancing.
Will you come? Yes!
Now we've got our bonny lass, Bonny lass, bonny lass, Now we've got our bonny lass, To help us with our dancing.
--London (A. B. Gomme).
XII. Here we go up the green grass, The green grass, the green grass; Here we go up the green grass, So early in the morning.
Fair maid, pretty maid; Give your hand to me, And you shall see a blackbird, A blackbird on the tree; All sorts of colours Lying by his side, Take me, dearest [----], For to be my bride--
Will you come? No!
Naughty old maid, she won't come out, She won't come out, To help us with our dancing--
Will you come? Yes!
Now we've got the bonny lass, Now we've got the bonny lass, To help us with our dancing.
--Liphook, Hants (Miss Fowler).
XIII. Trip trap over the grass, If you please, will you let one of your [eldest] daughters come, Come and dance with me? I will give you pots and pans, I will give you brass, I will give you anything For a pretty lass--
No! I will give you gold and silver, I will give you pearl, I will give you anything For a pretty girl.
Take one, take one, the fairest you may see.
The fairest one that I can see Is pretty [Nancy], come to me;
You shall have a duck, my dear, And you shall have a drake, And you shall have a young man, Apprentice for your sake.
If this young man should happen to die, And leave this poor woman a widow, The bells shall all ring and the birds shall all sing, And we'll clap hands together.
--Halliwell's _Popular Nursery Rhymes_, cccxxxii.
XIV. Will you take gold and silver, or will you take brass, Will you take anything for a pretty lass?
No! we'll not take gold and silver, no! we'll not take brass; We'll not take anything for a pretty lass.
Will you take the keys of school, or will you take brass? Will you take anything for a pretty lass?
Yes! we'll take the keys of school; yes! we will take brass; We will take anything for a pretty lass.
Come, my dear [Mary Anne], and give me your right hand,
And you shall have a duck, my dear, You shall have a drake; You shall have a nice young man To fiddle for your sake.
The birds will sing, the bells will ring, And we'll all clap hands together.
--Congleton Workhouse School (Miss A. E. Tremlow).
(_c_) The popular version of this game is played by the greater number of the children forming a line on one side with joined hands, and one child (sometimes two or more) facing them, advancing and retiring while singing the verses. When he asks the question, "Will you come?" one girl on the opposite side answers "No!" and afterwards "Yes!" When this is said, she goes to the opposite side, and the two dance round together while singing the next verse. The game begins again by the two singing the verses, and thus getting a third child to join them, when the game proceeds for a fourth, and so on.
The Congleton and London versions are played by two lines of children of about equal numbers. In the Lincolnshire version the above description answers, except that when the last line is sung every one claps hands. In the Sussex version the child at the end of the line is taken over by the child who sings the verses, and they lock their little fingers together while singing the remainder.
Addy (_Sheffield Glossary_) says:--"Two children advance and retire on one side. When the opposite side says 'Yes!' the two take the first child in the row and dance round with her, singing the remaining verse. This is called 'the wedding.'"
The Lanarkshire version is quite a different one, and contains rather remarkable features. Mr. Black says that the game was played entirely by girls, never by boys, and generally in the months of May or June, about forty years ago. The children sang with rather mincing and refined voices, evidently making an effort in this direction. They walked, with their hands clasped behind their backs, up and down the road. Each child was crowned with rushes, and also had sashes or girdles of rushes.
Mr. Ballantyne says in his boyhood it was played by a row of boys on one side and another of girls opposite. The boys selected a girl when singing the third verse.