Down in the Valley. Drab and Norr. Draw a Pail of Water. Drawing Dun out of the Mire. Drop Handkerchief. Dropping the Letter. Duck under the Water. Duck at the Table. Duck Dance. Duck Friar.
The game is won by a certain number of runs.--Ireland (_Folk-lore Journal_, ii. 264). See Cat, Cudgel, Kit-Cat, Rounders. Loggats An old game, forbidden by statute in Henry VIII. s time. It is thus played, according to Stevens. A stake is fixed in the ground; those who play throw Loggats at it, and he that is nearest the stake wins. Loggats, or loggets, are also small pieces or logs of wood, such as the country people throw at fruit that cannot otherwise be reached. Loggats, little logs or wooden pins, a play the same with ninepins, in which the boys, however, often made use of bones instead of wooden pins (Dean Miles MS.
No, no, this is my Monday; run away home. Upon this Monday jumps up from her crouching or kneeling posture [the children were generally put by the Witch behind some chairs all close together in one corner of the room], and runs off, followed by all the others and their Mother. The Witch tries to catch one, and if successful that child becomes Witch next time.--A. B. Gomme. A probable explanation of this game is that it illustrates some of the practices and customs connected with fire-worship and the worship of the hearth, and that the pot is a magical one, and would only boil over when something wrong had occurred and the Mother s presence was necessary. The pot boils over directly a child is taken away, and appears to cease doing this when the Mother comes in. It is remarkable, too, that the Witch should want to borrow a light from the fire; the objection to the giving of fire out of the house is a well-known and widely-diffused superstition, the possession of a brand from the house-fire giving power to the possessor over the inmates of a house. The mention of the spitting on the hearth in the Sheffield version, and dirtying the hearth in the London version, give confirmation to the theory that the desecration of the fire or hearth is the cause of the pot boiling over, and that the spirit of the hearth or fire is offended at the sacrilege.
The brisques are not counted, unless they are necessary to decide a tie, or save a rubicon. The value of the game is determined by deducting the lesser score from the higher, and then adding 500 points to the remainder. In this deduction all fractions of a hundred are disregarded. For instance: A’s score is 1830; while B’s is 1260. A wins 1800, less the 1200 scored by B, which leaves 600; to this must be added the 500 points for game, making the total value of A’s game 1100 points. If the scores are very nearly equal, being within one or two hundred points of each other, the tricks taken in by each player are turned over, and the brisques are counted, each player adding to his score ten points for every brisque he has won. Suppose that after the last trick had been played and scored, A’s total was 1260, and B’s 1140. This is close enough to justify B in demanding a count of the brisques. It is found that A has seven only, while B has twenty-five. This shows B to be the winner of the game, with a total score of 1390 to A’s 1330.
If the player will not exchange, he must _=knock=_ on the table, to signify that he will stand by the cards he has. If he exchanges, he takes up the offered card, and then has the privilege of trading for ready money or for barter himself. The trading goes on in this way round and round, until some player knocks, when all trading is immediately stopped, and the hands are shown. The best hand wins the pool, the rank of the various combinations being as follows, beginning with the highest:-- _=Triplets.=_ Three aces being the highest, and three deuces the lowest. Pairs have no value. _=Sequence Flushes=_; the ace being allowed to rank as the top or the bottom; Q K A, or A 2 3. _=The Point=_; the greatest number of pips on two or three cards of the same suit in one hand, counting the ace for eleven, and the other court-cards for ten each. A single card of a suit does not count for the point. In case of ties, a point made with three cards will beat one made with two cards.
If all have not followed the false lead, their cards must be taken back, but only the leader’s card is liable to be called. If it was the turn of the partner of the player in error to lead, the adversary on his right may call upon him to lead or not to lead a trump; but he cannot specify the plain suit. If it was the turn of either adversary of the player in error to lead, the card led in error is simply exposed. If the third hand plays before the second, the fourth may play before the second also. If the fourth hand plays before his partner, third hand not having played, the trick may be claimed by the adversaries, regardless of who wins it; but the player who actually wins it leads for the next trick. If a player has a card of the suit led, and neither follows suit nor plays a trump, it is a _=revoke=_; and, if detected and claimed by the adversaries, neither the player in error nor his partner can score any points that hand; but the hand may be played out to prevent the adversaries from scoring everything. If an adversary of the bidder revokes, the bidder’s side scores all points it makes, regardless of the number bid. For instance: A has bid nine; and Y revokes. A-B make eight only, which they score, Y-Z scoring nothing. When a player renounces, his partner should ask him if he is void of the suit.