And similarly we read of two doves, three white pigeons, four ducks flying in the air, five rabbits, six hares, seven hunting dogs, eight white horses, nine horned oxen, ten bleating sheep, eleven soldiers coming from war, twelve maidens, thirteen white nosegays, fourteen white loaves, fifteen casks of wine. The contents of these chants at first sound like nonsense, but on looking at them more closely one notes that the gifts which they enumerate mostly consist of birds and beasts that are conceived as food. We know that the weather on Twelve Days was carefully observed, since the weather of the months of the ensuing year was prognosticated from that of the corresponding day of the twelve.[54] A like conception perhaps underlies these enumerations of food, which may refer to the representative sports of the months. [54] Frazer, loc. cit., 1900, p. 143; Rolland, _Almanach des traditions populaires_, 1883, Jan. 1-12. The game of _Twelve Days_ in a degraded form is known as _The Gaping Wide-mouthed Waddling Frog_, in which the crux likewise consists of answering the question with rapidity and exactness. But words are purposely chosen that are difficult to enunciate and to remember. The result is a string of nonsense. The words used in playing _The Gaping Wide-mouthed Waddling Frog_ were first printed in a toy-book of the eighteenth century. Persons who are still living remember it in this form as a Christmas game. As in playing _Twelve Days_, the players sat in a circle, a dialogue ensued, and the answers were given in cumulative form. He who made a mistake gave a forfeit. Buy this of me:--What is it? The gaping wide-mouthed waddling frog. Buy this of me:--What is it? Two pudding ends will choke a dog, With a gaping wide-mouthed waddling frog. Buy this of me:--What is it? Three monkeys tied to a clog, Two pudding ends will choke a dog, etc. The answer to the last question stood as follows:-- Twelve huntsmen with horns and hounds, Hunting over other men's grounds; Eleven ships sailing o'er the main, Some bound for France and some for Spain, I wish them all safe home again; Ten comets in the sky, Some low and some high; Nine peacocks in the air, I wonder how they all came there, I do not know and I don't care; Eight joiners in joiner's hall Working with their tools and all. Seven lobsters in a dish, As fresh as any heart could wish; Six beetles against the wall [_or_ six spiders in the wall], Close by an old woman's apple stall; Five puppies by our bitch Ball Who daily for their breakfast call; Four horses stuck in a bog; Three monkeys tied to a clog; Two pudding ends would choke a dog; With a gaping wide-mouthed waddling frog. Many rhymes that originated in these nonsense verses have found their way into nursery collections. Halliwell printed the following lines as a separate nursery rhyme:--