[30] "The _pot-game_--the one in the middle sits, and is called a _pot_; the rest tweak him, or pinch him, or slap him while running round; and whoever is caught by him while so turning takes his place." We might suppose the disconnected verse of the "tortoise-game" to be imitated, perhaps in jest, from the high-sounding phrases of the drama. [31] "Cheli-chelone," _torti-tortoise_. [32] "Phitta Meliades." [33] Froissart's account of the school he attended reminds us of the American _district school_, and his narration has the same character of charming simplicity as his allusion to playing _with the boys of our street_. [34] For the games here mentioned, compare note in Appendix. GAMES AND SONGS OF AMERICAN CHILDREN I. _LOVE-GAMES._ --Many a faire tourning, Upon the grene gras springyng. _The Romaunt of the Rose._ No. 1. _Knights of Spain._ This ancient and interesting, now nearly forgotten, game was in the last generation a universal favorite in the United States, imported, no doubt, by the early settlers of the country; and was equally familiar, in numerous variations, through England and Scotland. It is not, however, the exclusive property of English-speaking peoples, but current under a score of forms throughout Europe--from Latin France, Italy, and Spain, to Scandinavian Iceland, from the Finns of the Baltic coast to the Slavs of Moravia. Its theme is courtship; but courtship considered according to ancient ideas, as a mercantile negotiation. To "buy" a bride was the old Norse expression for marriage, and in a similar sense is to be understood the word "sold" in our rhyme. The frankly mercenary character of the original transaction ceasing to be considered natural, it was turned into a jest or satire in Sweden and Scotland. The present song assumed all the grace and courtesy characteristic of the mediæval English ballad, while a primitive form survived in Iceland; and a later outgrowth (our No. 3) represented the whole affair as one of coquetry instead of bargaining, substituting, for the head of the house or the mother, the bride herself as the negotiator. Our first version shows the form of the game as played in New York in the early part of the century. * * * * * On a sofa, or row of chairs, a mother, with her daughters on either side, seated. Advance three suitors. "Here come three lords out of Spain, A-courting of your daughter Jane." "My daughter Jane is yet too young, To be ruled by your flattering tongue." "Be she young, or be she old, 'Tis for the price she may be sold. "So fare you well, my lady gay, We must turn another way." "Turn back, turn back, you Spanish knight, And scour your boots and spurs so bright." "My boots and spurs they cost you nought, For in this land they were not bought. "Nor in this land will they be sold, Either for silver or for gold.