=_ This is unknown at Spoil Five. The players take their seats at random, and one of them deals a card face up to each in succession. The first Jack takes the first deal. Some note should be made of the player who gets the first deal, as the rules require that when the game is brought to an end the last deal shall be made by the player on the right of the first dealer. _=THE POOL.=_ Before play begins each player deposits one counter in the pool, and to this amount each successive dealer adds a counter until the pool is won, when all contribute equally to form a new one. In some places it is the practice for each successive dealer to put up for all the players, whether the pool is won or not. This simply makes larger pools. _=DEALING.=_ Any player has the right to shuffle the pack, the dealer last.
B. Gomme). This game is called King-sealing in Dorsetshire. See King of Cantland, Lamploo. King Come-a-lay A game played by boys. Two sets of boys, or sides, strive which can secure most prisoners for the King.--Shetland (Jamieson). King of Cantland A game of children, in which one of a company, being chosen King o Cantland, and two goals appointed at a considerable distance from each other, all the rest endeavoured to run from one goal to the other; and those whom the King can seize in their course, so as to lay his hand upon their heads (which operation is called winning them), become his subjects, and assist him in catching the remainder.--Dumfries (Jamieson). Jamieson adds: This game is called King s Covenanter in Roxburgh.
(_d_) The words of all the versions are sufficiently similar to analyse without a special form. The game appears to be purely a love and marriage game, and has probably had its origin in a ballad, and this idea is strengthened by the fact that only one version (London) has the marriage formula sung at the end, and this is probably an arbitrary addition. The lover is represented as lonely and disconsolate, and the remedy suggested is to choose a sweetheart. The marriage ceremony is of the simplest description--the clasping of hands and the kissing within the circle probably implying the betrothal at a spot sacred to such functions, similar to the Standing Stones of Stenness. Whatever may have been the original intention of these stones, they came in more recent times to be the resort of lovers, who joined their right hands through the hole in the altar stones in the belief that this ceremony would add additional solemnity to the betrothal. Miss Gordon Cumming, in her _Tour in the Hebrides_, mentions the fact of the marriage ceremony being of the simplest--a man and woman standing facing each other and clasping hands over a particular stone. Walking arm-in-arm is a sign in Dorsetshire that a couple are married. The mention of the roast beef and plum pudding for dinner has probably had its origin in the wedding dinner or breakfast, and the inviting of friends to assemble for the wedding dinner. The word Isabella may have been originally something quite different from the name of a girl. I am inclined to think the word was not the name of a person at all; possibly it was something addressed to a particular person in words the sense of which are now lost, and the nearest idea to it was this name.
In only one case, the Shropshire, is the prisoner ransomed; in the others he is sent to prison. Besides this main line of criticism brought out by the analysis there is little to note. The Hurstmonceux version begins with taking lambs over London Bridge, and the Shropshire version with the players themselves going over; but these are doubtless foreign adjuncts, because they do not properly prefix the main incident of the bridge being broken. The Belfast version has a curious line, Grant said the little bee or dee, which the Cork version renders, Gran says the little D. To these there is now no meaning that can be traced, but they help to prove that the rhyme originated from a state of things not understood by modern players. In all the versions with the prisoner incident it comes quite suddenly, without any previous indication, except in the Kent version, which introduces the exclamation, Here s a prisoner I have got! As the analysis shows the prisoner incident to be a real and not accidental part of the game, and the unmeaning expressions to indicate an origin earlier than modern players can understand, we can turn to other facts to see if the origin can be in any way traced. ANALYSIS OF GAME-RHYMES. +---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ |No.| Belfast. | Halliwell.
(2) If there is no curtain, the player winning the toss, hereafter called the First Player, shall next arrange his men along his back line, as he chooses. Any men he may place behind or in front of his back line shall count in the subsequent move as if they touched the back line at its nearest point. The Second Player shall then do the same. But if a curtain is available both first and second player may put down their men at the same time. Both players may take unlimited time for the putting down of their men; if there is a curtain it is drawn back when they are ready, and the game then begins. [Illustration: Fig. 2--Battle of Hook s Farm. A Near View of the Blue Army] [Illustration: Fig. 3--Battle of Hook s Farm. Position of both Armies after first move.
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 hoary 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.
--Patterson s _Antrim and Down Glossary_. See Lag. Lady of the Land [Music] --Tong, Shropshire (Miss R. Harley). I. Here comes the lady of the land, With sons and daughters in her hand; Pray, do you want a servant to-day? What can she do? She can brew, she can bake, She can make a wedding cake Fit for you or any lady in the land. Pray leave her. I leave my daughter safe and sound, And in her pocket a thousand pound, And on her finger a gay ring, And I hope to find her so again. --_Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries_, i. 133.
2nd. To deduct three points from his game score. 3rd. To add three points to their own game score. The penalty cannot be divided. A revoke may be corrected by the player making it before the trick in which it occurs has been turned and quitted. The card played in error must be left face up on the table, and must be played when demanded by the adversaries, unless it can be got rid of previously, in the course of play. In America, the revoke penalty is two tricks. _=The Honours=_ are the four highest trumps, A, K, Q, and J; and _=after tricks have been scored=_, partners who held three honours between them are entitled to count two points towards game; four honours counting four points. If each side has two honours, neither can count them.
If the counters have no money value, there is no pool; but the player who has the worst hand shown puts one of his counters in the middle of the table. This continues until some player has lost all five of his counters, and he is then called upon to pay for the whiskey, or whatever refreshments may be at stake upon the game. Hence the name: Whiskey Poker. THIRTY-ONE. This game is sometimes called _=Schnautz=_. A pool is made up by any number of players. The dealer takes a pack of fifty-two cards and gives three to each, face down, and three extra cards to the table, dealt face up. Each player in turn to the left can exchange one of his own cards for one of those on the table, the object being to get a flush of three cards of some suit having a pip value of thirty-one; or else to get three of a kind. The aces are worth 11, the other court cards and the ten, 10 each. If no one can get a flush worth thirty-one, three of a kind wins the pool.
This pays 2 for 1. Limit is 3,000 francs. 7. _=Bas à cheval=_, between any two of these columns. This pays ½ for 1. Limit is 3,000 francs. 8. _=Premier, Milieu, Dernier.=_ Bets placed in the spaces marked P 12, M 12, and D 12, are upon the first, middle and last twelve numbers; that is, from 1 to 12, 13 to 24, and 25 to 36 respectively. This pays 2 for 1.
(3) When the irregularity is not discovered until after the overplay has begun: In two-table duplicate there must be a new deal; but in a game in which the same deals are played at more than two tables, the hands must be rectified as is provided above and then passed to the next table without overplay at the table at which the error was discovered; in which case, if a player have less than thirteen cards and his adversary the corresponding surplus, each pair takes the average score for that deal; if, however, his partner have the corresponding surplus, his pair is given the lowest score and his opponents the highest score made at any table for that deal. C. _Playing the cards._ Each player, when it is his turn to play, must place his card, face upward, before him and toward the centre of the table. He must allow it to remain upon the table in this position until all have played to the trick, when he must turn it over and place it face downward, nearer to himself; if he or his partner have won the trick, the card should point toward his partner and himself; otherwise it should point toward the adversaries. The declarer may either play dummy’s cards or may call them by name whenever it is dummy’s turn to play and have dummy play them for him. A trick is turned and quitted when all four players have turned and ceased to touch their respective cards. The cards must be left in the order in which they were played until the scores of the deal have been recorded. D. _The Revoke.
--Jamieson. The editors of Jamieson append a lengthy note connecting the name of this game with the northern belief that the wicked were condemned to suffer eternal punishment in Hecla, the volcanic mountain in Iceland. See Namers and Guessers. Hen and Chicken Chickery, chickery, cranny crow, I went to the well to wash my toe, When I got back a chicken was dead. This verse is said by the Hen to her Chickens, after which they all go with the Hen to search for the dead Chicken. On their way they meet the Fox. The following dialogue between the Fox and Hen ensues, the Hen beginning:-- What are you doing? Picking up sticks. What for? To make a fire. What s the fire for? To boil some water. What s the water for? To boil some chickens in.
--Jamieson. See Eller Tree, Wind up Jack, Wind up the Bush Faggot. Bummers A play of children. Bummers--a thin piece of wood swung round by a cord (_Blackwood s Magazine_, Aug. 1821, p. 35). Jamieson says the word is evidently denominated from the booming sound produced. Bun-hole A hole is scooped out in the ground with the heel in the shape of a small dish, and the game consists in throwing a marble as near to this hole as possible. Sometimes, when several holes are made, the game is called Holy. --Addy s _Sheffield Glossary_; _Notes and Queries_, xii.
Halliwell, and unfortunately the locality from which he obtained this variant is unknown. Still it is an earlier version than those which are now printed for the first time, and may without doubt be looked upon as genuine. Taking all the incidents of the various versions as the means by which to restore the earliest version, it would appear that this might have consisted of the following lines:-- Draw a pail of water For a lady s daughter; Her father s a king, her mother s a queen, Her two little sisters are dressed in green, Stamping grass and parsley, marigold leaves and daisies; Sift the lady s oatmeal, sift it into flour, Put it in a chestnut tree, let it lie an hour; Give a silver pin and a gold ring, One and a hush! two and a rush! Pray, young lady, pop under a bush; My bush is too high, my bush is too low, Please, young lady, come under my bow! (_d_) This restoration of the words, though it probably is far from complete, and does not make so good a game rhyme as the reduced versions, nevertheless shows clearly enough that the incidents belong to a ceremonial of primitive well-worship. The pulling of the hands backwards and forwards may be taken to indicate the raising of water from a well. If this is conceded, the incidents might be grouped as follows:-- (1.) Drawing of water from a well. (2.) For a devotee at the well. (3.) Collecting flowers for dressing the well.
Moreover, on a big floor with an extensive country it is possible to begin moving with moves double or treble the length here specified, and to come down to moves of the ordinary lengths when the troops are within fifteen or twelve or ten feet of each other. To players with the time and space available I would suggest using a quite large country, beginning with treble moves, and, with the exception of a select number of cavalry scouts, keeping the soldiers in their boxes with the lids on, and moving the boxes as units. (This boxing idea is a new one, and affords a very good substitute for the curtain; I have tried it twice for games in the open air where the curtain was not available.) Neither side would, of course, know what the other had in its boxes; they might be packed regiments or a mere skeleton force. Each side would advance on the other by double or treble moves behind a screen of cavalry scouts, until a scout was within ten feet of a box on the opposite side. Then the contents of that particular box would have to be disclosed and the men stood out. Troops without any enemy within twenty feet could be returned to their boxes for facility in moving. Playing on such a scale would admit also of the introduction of the problem of provisions and supplies. Little toy Army Service waggons can be bought, and it could be ruled that troops must have one such waggon for every fifty men within at least six moves. Moreover, ammunition carts may be got, and it may be ruled that one must be within two moves of a gun before the latter can be fired.
Where s the cat? In the wood. Where s the wood? Fire burnt it. Where s the fire? Moo-cow drank it. Where s the moo-cow? Butcher killed it. Where s the butcher? Eating nuts behind the door, and you may have the nutshells. --London (Miss Dendy, from a maid-servant). II. Please, mother, may I go a-maying? Why, daughter, why? Because it is my sister s birthday. Make three pretty curtseys and walk away. Where is your may? I met puss, and puss met me, and puss took all my may away.