The prettiest of all the games is that of the "Little White Pigeons,"
which all Andalusian children love to play. The little companions form
in two rows, and, facing each other, dance forward and slip beneath the
upraised arms of the opposite side. Thus they pass under the "Silver
Arches" to Sevilla and Granada:
"Little white pigeons are dreaming of Seville,
Sun in the palm-trees, rose and revel.
Lift up the arches, gold as the weather,
Little white pigeons come flying together.
"Little white pigeons, dream of Granada,
Glistening snows on Sierra Nevada.
Lift up the arches, silver as fountains,
Little white pigeons fly to the mountains."
Our little Spanish cousins play nearly all the same games that American
children play, only their "Blind Man's Buff" is called "Blind Hen," and
"Pussy Wants a Corner," is called "Cottage to Rent," and played with
the rhyme:
"Cottage to rent, try the other side,
You see this one is occupied."
Their game of tag is called the "Moon and the Morning Stars," and is
played by one child being chosen as the Moon and forced to keep within
the shadow. The rest of the children, being Morning Stars, are safe
only where it is light. If the Moon can catch a Star in the shadow, the
Star must become a Moon, and as the Stars scamper in and out of the
shadow, all sing:
"O the Moon and the Morning Stars,
O the Moon and the Morning Stars,
Who dares to tread--oh
Within the shadow."
"Hide and Seek" the children played, and "Forfeits," and all manner
of other games, and as the sun nearly always shines in Andalusia, the
summer was one long merry round of out-of-door fun.
CHAPTER XI.
A TERTULIA
SEPTEMBER found the children at home again, and Fernando back at
school, while Juanita had a governess for a part of each day, though
she was not expected to learn a great deal; for the Spaniards think if
their girls are sweet and gentle they need not be very learned. If a
Spanish girl of sixteen knows how to read and write, simple arithmetic,
a little history, and can dance and embroider well, she is quite
accomplished enough to marry, which is what most of them intend to do.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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