"So we go round the juniper bush, the juniper bush, the juniper bush, So we go round the juniper bush early on Tuesday morning. This is the way we ring out our clothes, ring out our clothes, ring out our clothes, This is the way we ring out our clothes early on Tuesday morning." The washing operations proceed through the next three days of the week, with a verse to each day. Thus on Wednesday they hang up the clothes, on Thursday they mangle them, and on Friday iron them. Then on Saturday they scrub the floor, and on Sunday go to church. With each verse the children dance hand in hand round the imaginary juniper bush, singing lustily, and illustrating the different actions of the washing operations. Finally, two and two and arm in arm, they promenade round, as if going to church, and generally prolong the walk while they sing the last verse a second time. Another very favourite game is _Slaengkompas_, which is perhaps best translated almost literally as Scatter-Compass. It is a rapid game, and full of excitement. The players grasp hands in a circle and gallop round, singing the refrain as they go: "Those who would join in _Slaengkompas_ must be tolerably quick! One--two--three--and four--and five. So comes _Slaengkompas_ again." When the counting begins the players let go hands, and, clapping to the tune, spin round separately until the word "five" is reached, when they should be in position ready to join hands again and continue to gallop round in the original circle. The aim of the game is to keep things going until the verse has been sung three times, but, of course, the players often become giddy and lose their places. There is not space to describe more of these ring dances here, but there are many of them, and a great many which our English children would do well to adopt. Our good old street game of "Hop-scotch" you may see played almost anywhere in Norway under the somewhat curious name of "Hop-in-Paradise," while in some parts "Cat's Cradle," though a milder form of amusement, is quite popular, and a large variety of figures is known. Then the girls are very fond of dressing up as brides, with crowns and all, and having a mock wedding, with its accompanying procession and dancing. Above all things they love dancing, and their fathers and grandfathers play the fiddle for them for many an hour of a winter's evening, while the mothers sing nursery rhymes to the smaller children. And, as with the games, these jingles are more or less the same as our own. They have "This is the house that Jack built," with the malt, and the rat, and everything, only that they prefer the name Jacob to Jack. They have "Fly away, Peter, fly away, Paul"; and the baby on his mother's knee has the joy of being shaken about to "This is the way the farmer rides, bumpety-bumpety-bump." CHAPTER VII