Children's songs -- United States; Games with music
The rhyme, with small change, is still familiar in Scotland, and
the game well known in Pennsylvania, where the defiance runs, less
chivalrously,
Hally, hally, hastle,
Come into my new castle!
Or, with a change of usage,
Hally, hally, hastle,
Get off of my new castle!
In the first case the defender maintains his post against assailants;
in the latter, he endeavors to capture one of a group who have
established themselves in his castle, represented usually by a
cellar-door.
No. 112.
+_Lil Lil._+
This game is played in an open field. A boy stands in the centre of the
field, and the other players at the sides. With the cry "Lil lil!" they
run across. The tagger must touch a runner three times on the back, and
whoever is so caught must assist him. There is a rhyme for this game--
Lil, lil,
Over the hill,
Wash my lady's dishes,
Hang them on the bushes, etc.
"Lil lil!" is also a cry (in Boston) of children "coasting," when the
track is to be cleared.
No. 113.
_Charley Barley._
Charley, barley, buck and rye,
What's the way the Frenchmen fly?
Some fly east, and some fly west,
And some fly over the cuckoo's nest.
_Portland, Me._
We have not obtained information as to the manner in which this game
was played, but it is evidently identical with the Scotch rhyme:
Hickety, bickety, pease, scone,
Where shall this poor Scotchman gang?
Will he gang east, or will he gang west,
Or will he gang to the craw's nest?
In the Scotch game, a boy, whose eyes are bandaged, rests his head
against a wall, while the rest come up and lay their hands upon his
back. He sends them to different places, according to the rhyme, and
calls out, "Hickety, bickety!" till they have returned, when the
last in must take his place. The "crow's nest" is close beside the
blindfolded boy, and is a coveted position.
This game is also played in Switzerland. Each of the children receives
the name of some animal, as Goat, Wolf, Snake, Frog, etc. To the
swifter and more dangerous beasts are assigned the more distant
positions. The keeper then shouts out that supper is ready, whereupon
all rush home, each animal uttering his own peculiar cry. The last in
is punished.
No. 114.
_Milking-pails._
All the players join hands in a row, except one, who stands facing
them at a distance of a few feet. The row slowly advances towards the
solitary child, and then retreats, singing,
"Will you buy me a pair of milking-pails,
Oh, mother! Oh, mother?
Will you buy me a pair of milking-pails,
Oh, gentle mother of mine?"
The mother, advancing and retreating in her turn, sings,
"Where is the money to come from,
Oh, daughter! Oh, daughter?
Where is the money to come from,
Oh, gentle daughter of mine?"
The dialogue then continues to the same air,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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