(_b_) The hands are closed, some small article is put in one of them behind the back of the player. The closed fists are then turned rapidly round one another while the rhyme is being said, and they are then placed one on top of the other. A guess is then made by any one of the players as to which hand the object is in. If correct, the guesser obtains the object; if incorrect, the player who performs Handy dandy keeps it. (_c_) This game is mentioned in _Piers Plowman_, p. 69 of Wright s edition. Douce quotes an ancient MS. which curiously mentions the game as men play with little children at handye-dandye, which hand will you have (ii. 167). Johnson says: Handy dandy, a play in which children change hands and places: See how yon justice rails upon yon simple thief! Hark, in thine ear: change places, and, handy dandy, which is the justice, which is the thief? (_King Lear_, iv.
Foot for foot, and knee for knee, Turn about Darby s company. --Halliwell s _Nursery Rhymes_, p. 121. (_b_) The children form pairs, one pair following the other, with their arms linked behind. While the first four lines are repeated by all, they skip forward, and then skip back again. At the end of the last line they turn themselves about without loosing hands. (_c_) Miss Burne includes this among obscure and archaic games, and Halliwell-Phillips mentions it as a marching game. The three first versions have something of the nature of an incantation, while the fourth and fifth versions may probably belong to another game altogether. It is not clear from the great variation in the verses to which class the game belongs. Almonds and Reasons An old English game undescribed.
_=Irregularities in the Deal.=_ If any card is found faced in the pack, the dealer must deal again. Should the dealer expose any card but the trump while dealing, the adversaries may demand a new deal by the same dealer. Should any adversary of the dealer expose a card, the dealer may elect to deal again. A player dealing out of turn may be stopped before the trump card is turned; but after that the deal must stand, afterward passing to the left in regular order. On the completion of the deal, if any player has more or less than five cards, it is a misdeal, and the deal passes to the player on the misdealer’s left. The dealer loses his deal if he neglects to have the pack cut; if he deals a card incorrectly, and fails to remedy the error before dealing another; if he counts the cards on the table, or those remaining in the pack; or if he deals two cards to one player and three to another in the same round. If the pack is found to be imperfect, the deal in which the error is discovered is void; but all previous scores stand good. _=MAKING THE TRUMP.=_ Although a card is turned up at the end of the deal, the suit to which it belongs is not necessarily the trump for that hand.
Most hustlers can t keep their eyes off your chips. She puppy-dogged behind me to the crap table I had decided needed my attention. It was crowded, but there s always room for one more sucker. And still one more, for the sniffly girl with the hair-colored hair pressed in against my useless right arm when I elbowed my way in between the gamblers, directly across from the dealers. Billy Joe! she said, just loud enough to hear over the chanting of the dealers and the excited chatter of the dice players. Billy Joe! What a corn-ball routine! * * * * * I took stock before beginning to lose my stack of chips. There were more than twenty gamblers of both sexes pressed up against the green baize of the crap layout. Three stick-men in black aprons that marked them for dealers were working on the other side or the table. We had at least one dealer too many for the crowd. That screamed out loud the table was having trouble.
It was compulsory to win the trick if possible, and to trump, over-trump, or under-trump if the player had none of the suit led. This peculiarity survives in the games of Rams and Loo, which also belong to the euchre family. After a time we find a variation introduced in which any number from two to six could play, each for himself, and the player first winning two tricks out of the five marked the point. Later still we find the ace ranking above the King, thus becoming the best trump. If the ace was turned up, the dealer had the privilege of robbing it, or the holder of the ace of trumps could rob the turn-up, discarding any card he pleased, just as in Spoil Five. But in Triomphe the dealer turned up another card, and if that was of the trump suit the holder of the ace could rob that also, and so on until he turned a card of a different suit. This did not alter the trump, but merely stopped the robbing process. Whether or not Triomphe borrowed this feature from Spoil Five or Maw, it is now impossible to say. Whatever its origin, Euchre has always been the most respectable member of the family, and the game of all others that has best served the card-playing interest in social life. Spoil Five probably comes next in point of respectability; but Écarté has often fallen into evil hands, and the very name is in some places regarded as synonymous for gambling.
The demand must be made by the last player to the trick in which the suit is called. If it was the turn of neither to lead, the card played in error is exposed. If all have played to the false lead, the error cannot be rectified. If all have not followed, the cards erroneously played must be taken back, but are not liable to be called. _=28.=_ If an adversary of a lone player leads out of turn, the lone player may abandon the hand, and score the points. _=29.=_ If the third hand plays before the second, the fourth hand may play before his partner, either of his own volition, or at the direction of the second hand, who may say: “Play, partner.” If the fourth hand plays before the second, the third hand may call upon the second hand to play his highest or lowest of the suit led, or to trump or not to trump the trick. _=30.
232) appeared the following interesting note:-- The projected demolition of London Bridge recalls to my mind the introductory lines of an old ballad which more than seventy years ago I heard plaintively warbled by a lady who was born in the reign of Charles II., and who lived till nearly the end of that of George II. I now transcribe the lines, not as possessing any great intrinsic merit, but in the hope of learning from some intelligent correspondent the name of the author and the story which gave rise to the ballad, for it probably originated in some accident that happened to the old bridge. The Lady Lea evidently refers to the river of that name, the favourite haunt of Isaac Walton, which, after fertilising the counties of Hertford, Essex, and Middlesex, glides into the Thames. London Bridge is broken down, _Dance over the Lady Lea_; London Bridge is broken down, _With a gay lady_ [_la-dee_]. Then we must build it up again. What shall we build it up withal? Build it up with iron and steel, Iron and steel will bend and break. Build it up with wood and stone, Wood and stone will fall away. Build it up with silver and gold, Silver and gold will be stolen away. Then we must set a man to watch, Suppose the man should fall asleep? Then we must put a pipe in his mouth, Suppose the pipe should fall and break? Then we must set a dog to watch, Suppose the dog should run away? Then we must chain him to a post.
V. How do you luby lue, How do you luby lue, How do you luby lue, O er the Saturday night? Put your right hand in, Put your right hand out, Shake it in the middle, And turn yourselves about. --Lady C. Gurdon s Suffolk _County Folk-lore_, p. 64. [Repeat this for left hand, right foot, left foot, heads, and put yourselves in. ] VI. Can you dance looby, looby, Can you dance looby, looby, Can you dance looby, looby, All on a Friday night? You put your right foot in, And then you take it out, And wag it, and wag it, and wag it, Then turn and turn about. --Addy s _Sheffield Glossary_. VII.
Penny loaves will mould away, Mould away, mould away, Penny loaves will mould away, My fair lady. What have this poor prisoner done, Prisoner done, prisoner done, What have this poor prisoner done? My fair lady. Stole my watch and lost my key, Lost my key, lost my key, Stole my watch and lost my key, My fair lady. Off to prison you must go, You must go, you must go, Off to prison you must go, My fair lady. --Liphook, Hants (Miss Fowler). IV. Where are these great baa-lambs going, Baa-lambs going, baa-lambs going, Where are these great baa-lambs going? My fair lady. We are going to London Bridge, London Bridge, London Bridge, We are going to London Bridge, My fair lady. London Bridge is broken down, Broken down, broken down, London Bridge is broken down, My fair lady. [Then verses follow, sung in the same way and with the same refrain, beginning with--] Mend it up with penny loaves.
It is 12 to 1 against improving if one card is drawn; 16 to 1 against the full, and 46 to 1 against four of a kind. It is 11 to 1 against making a straight out of a sequence of four cards which is open in the middle, or at one end only. It is 5 to 1 against making a straight out of a sequence of four which is open at both ends. [Illustration: 🂻 🃚 🂨 🂧 | 🂹 🃘 🂧 🃆 IN-BETWEEN STRAIGHT. OPEN-END STRAIGHT. ] It is 4½ to 1 against filling a four-card flush. It is 23 to 1 against filling a three-card flush. It is 95 to 1 against filling a two-card flush. It is 3 to 1 against improving a four-card straight flush which is open at both ends. The chances against getting the straight or the flush have been given; the odds against getting the straight flush are 24 to 1.
The value of the game is 1, and each better game is numbered in regular order, the five varieties being as follows: The Game, 1. Schneider, 2. Schwarz announced or Schwarz, 3. Schwarz after announcing Schneider, 4. Schwarz announced, 5. These numbers are added to the number of Matadores, and the total thus found is multiplied by the unit value of the game. For instance: A player has obtained the privilege of playing on a bid of thirty. His game is a Solo in hearts, in which he holds the three highest Matadores and announces schneider in advance. His game multiplier is therefore 3 (for the announced schneider), to which he adds 3 more for the Matadores, 6 altogether. The unit value of a heart Solo being 10, he could have gone on bidding to 60 had it been necessary, and he will win 60 from each of his adversaries if he succeeds in reaching 91 points in the counting cards he takes in in his tricks, together with what he finds in the Skat.
Some of the most brilliant endings in whist are skirmishes for the possession of the last trump; the player who is at a disadvantage often persistently refuses the fatal force, hoping the leader will be compelled to change his suit, or will lose the lead. _=Drawing the Losing Trump.=_ It is usually best to draw losing trumps from the adversaries, unless a player can foresee that he may want the best to stop a strong adverse suit. _=A Thirteenth Card=_, played by the partner, is usually considered an invitation to put on the best trump. The Second Hand should not trump a thirteenth card unless he is weak in trumps. _=AMERICAN LEADS.=_ Advanced players, who have had so much practice that they can infer the probable position of the cards without devoting their entire attention to it, have adopted a new system of leading from the four combinations following, in order to show the number of small cards in the suit:-- [Illustration: 🃑 🃞 🃝 🃛 🃖 | 🂱 🂾 🂶 🂴 🂲 🃁 🃎 🃍 🃆 🃅 | 🂮 🂭 🂧 🂤 🂢 ] From these the King is never led if there are more than four cards in the suit. Having more than four, the lowest of the sequence of high cards is led. From the first this would be the Jack; from the second the Queen; from the third the Ace, (because the King is barred;) and from the fourth the Queen. The Ten is not ranked among the high cards in American Leads.
In some versions (Shropshire and London) the player who is selected for Nuts is always captured by the one sent to fetch her. Some Barnes children also say that this is the proper way to play. When boys and girls play the boys are always sent to fetch away the girls. In Sheffield (a version collected by Mr. S. O. Addy) a boy is chosen to fetch the girl away; and in the Earls Heaton version the line runs, We ll have a girl for nuts in May. (_e_) There is some analogy in the game to marriage by capture, and to the marriage customs practised at May Day festivals and gatherings. For the evidence for marriage by capture in the game there is no element of love or courtship, though there is the obtaining possession of a member of an opposing party. But it differs from ordinary contest-games in the fact that one party does not wage war against another party for possession of a particular piece of ground, but individual against individual for the possession of an individual.