“First of all a boy bends down and each boy flies over and the Duty
man being last shouts out a game while flying over such as Solomon
silent reading. A boy must bend down, then the Duty man thinks of a
word and writes it on the boy’s back with his finger, then the one who
is bending down gets up and tells the Duty man what he wrote, then
all the other boys stoop down one at a time and the Duty man repeats
the writing [on their backs] and the last one to get it wrong has to
give down”--
and BULL-DOG RACE and EATING FISH AND POTATOES and UPSETTING MOTHER’S
GRAVY and HANDS OFF and CAP TELLING and WHO WILL TAKE THE PIG (or the
UGLY BEAR) TO MARKET and ARM’S LENGTH and LAUGH AND CRY and BRASS BAND
and CANNON BALLS and FOOT IT and DEAF AND DUMB MOSES (also called
DUTY FOUR, where you have to pretend to be deaf and dumb) and FIRE
ENGINES (or FIREMAN: duty) and STICK IN THE MUD (or STICKUMS) and
BRITISH WORKMAN and SUGAR CANES and CARRYING CROCODILES’ FOOD. You play
CROCODILES’ FOOD like this:
“All the boys leap over one’s back and then run to end of street and
then you all come back with your hands and feet on the ground and your
chest above the ground and then you place your hat on your chest and
walk along and the boy who falls over has to go down”
in other words, the cap (the crocodiles’ food) has to lie on your
stomach, which is sometimes called chest, while you move forwards with
your back to the earth supporting yourself on hands and feet, as you
can see perfectly well from this other description:
“Have to run to top of street then the boy who is down shouts out
carrying crocodiles food, then the other boys have to come back with
their hats on their chests and their hands behind and running along
on their backs”
and GAMMON RASHER and CATCHING STONES and RACE FOR A LEAF and CARRIAGES
and ALL SORTS and PULLING UP FATHER’S RHUBARB and HAYSTACK and KING’S
DINNER and MOUSE IN THE TRAP and PUNCTURED TYRE and COBBLER and DRUMS
and FOOT AND LEE and FINGER IN THE BIRD’S NEST and BABBLE and OVER
GARDEN WALL and THREE AND ON and HOW FAR CAN YOU RUN and BUNG THE
BARREL and PICKING THE BLOATER and SIFT THE GRAPES and HOT ROLLS and
WARNIE I’M A COMING--and that’s just a few of them.
WARNIE has to be played against a wall, and this is what they say to it:
Hi Jimmy Nacko, one, two, three--Obobé,
Obobé-all-y-over!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account