Among other rhyming compounds is the word _Hitty-Pitty_. It occurs in a riddle-rhyme which Halliwell traced back to the seventeenth century (MS. Harl. 1962):-- Hitty Pitty within the wall, Hitty Pitty without the wall; If you touch Hitty Pitty, Hitty Pitty will bite you. (A nettle, 1849, p. 149.) This verse is sometimes used in playing _Hide and Seek_ as a warning to the player who approaches the place that is "hot" (1894, I, 211). A variation of the word is _Highty-Tighty_, which is preserved in the following rhyme:-- Highty, tighty, paradighty, clothed in green, The king could not read it, no more could the queen; They sent for a wise man out of the East, Who said it had horns, but was not a beast. (1842, p. 118.) The answer is "A holly tree." Another rhyming compound is preserved in the riddle-rhyme on the sunbeam:-- Hick-a-more, Hack-a-more Hung on a kitchen door; Nothing so long, and nothing so strong, As Hick-a-more, Hack-a-more Hung on the kitchen door. (1846, p. 207.) The following riddle-rhyme preserves the word lilly-low, which is the north-country term for the flame of a candle:-- Lilly-low, lilly-low, set up on end, See little baby go out at town end. (A candle, 1849, p. 146.) Another riddle on the candle, which also stands in MS. Harl. 1962, and has found its way into nursery collections, is:-- Little Nancy Etticoat with a white petticoat, And a red nose; The longer she stands, the shorter she grows. (1842, p. 114.) This recalls a riddle current in Devonshire, where the sky is called widdicote:-- Widdicote, widdicote, over cote hang; Nothing so broad, and nothing so lang As Widdicote, etc. (1892, p. 333.) All these riddle-rhymes are based on primitive conceptions, and all have parallels in the nursery lore of other countries. The rhyme on Hoddy-Doddy in Norwegian is simply descriptive; in France it is told in the form of words exchanged between _Noiret_, "Blacky," the pot, and _Rouget_, "Ruddy," the fire. In Italy the Pot, the Smoke, and the Fire are described as three sisters. Again, the riddle-rhyme on the candle is told in Swabia and in France. But in no case are the foreign parallels as close as in the riddle-rhyme of Humpty-Dumpty, and in no case do they preserve the same interesting allusions. CHAPTER XI CUMULATIVE PIECES We now turn to rhymes which dwell on different ideas and present life under other aspects. In these rhymes there is much on spells, on the magic properties of numbers, and on sacrificial hunting. A fatalistic tendency underlies many of these rhymes, and there are conscious efforts to avert danger.