Comparative Studies in Nursery Rhymes — John Shaqi
Comparative Studies in Nursery RhymesEckenstein, Lina
History
Comparative Studies in Nursery Rhymes
Eckenstein, Lina
Comparative literature; Nursery rhymes -- Bibliography; Nursery rhymes -- History and criticism
The tale of Jack was current in Münster in Westphalia also, where it was
taken over by the Church, and annually recited at the religious
procession which took place on the eve of the feast of St. Lambert, 17
September. This was done as late as the year 1810 (R., p. 155). The
recitation was followed or accompanied by a dance, the purpose of which
is not recorded. Perhaps the procession stood in relation to the actual
garnering of pears, and the tale was recited in order to secure a good
harvest. In this case not Jack, but _der Jäger_, "the huntsman," was
dispatched to knock the pears off, and the sequence of powers included
dog, stick, fire, water, calf, butcher, hangman, devil.
This adoption by the Church of the sequence of powers shows that we have
to do with the remains of a heathen ritual, which found its way into a
Christian celebration, as the tale of the kid found its way into the
Easter celebration of the Jewish Church. In both instances the sequence
of relative powers is preserved, and in both it is question of making an
object secure for the use of man.
The same sequence of powers is preserved also in the traditional game
that is known as _Dump_ among ourselves (1894, I, 117; II, 419), and as
_Club Fist_ in America (N., p. 134). In this game it is also a question
of building a house, and of knocking off pears. The action of the
players, however, stands in no obvious relation to the words that are
used. Sometimes three, sometimes a number of lads, crowd together and
place their fists sideways one on the other, till they form a pile of
clenched hands. The last boy, who has a fist free, knocks off the fists
one by one, saying:--
(In Yorkshire) What's this?--(Answer) Dump.
(In America) What's that?--(Answer) A pear.
Take it off or I'll knock it off.
In Shropshire all sing together:--
I've built my house, I've built my wall;
I don't care where my chimneys fall.
When all the fists are knocked down, the following dialogue ensues:--
What's there?--Cheese and bread and a mouldy half-penny.
Where's my share?--I put it on the shelf, and the cat got it.
Where's the cat?--She's run nine miles through the wood.
Where's the wood?--T' fire burnt it.
Where's the fire?--T' water sleckt it.
Where's the water?--T' ox drunk it.
Where's the ox?--T' butcher killed 'em.
Where's the butcher?--Upon the church-top cracking nuts, and you may
go and eat the shells; and _them as_ speak first shall have nine
nips, nine scratches, and nine boxes on the ear. (1849, p. 128.)
Silence falls, all try not to laugh, and he who first allows a word to
escape him, is punished by the others in the methods adopted by
schoolboys. In the Scottish game the punishment is described as "nine
nips, nine nobs, nine double douncornes, and a good blow on the back."
In France the same game is known as _Le Pied de Bœuf_, "the foot of the
ox," and a scramble of fists starts at the words:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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