Prophetical, Educational and Playing CardsVan Rensselaer, John King, Mrs.
Religion
Prophetical, Educational and Playing Cards
Van Rensselaer, John King, Mrs.
Fortune-telling by cards -- History; Playing cards -- History
"Sweeping the Floor" comes next. The stones are placed four inches apart
in a square, and the third finger of the right hand must sweep inside two
of the stones without touching them while the Jack is aloft. They must
then be gathered and caught with one sweep of the hand.
"Spreading the Table" is done by arranging the square with four stones, as
in the preceding set, after which they are pushed together with one sweep
and caught in the right hand while the Jack is up.
"Laying Eggs," called Al-Nat-Ki in Korea, is the next set. American
children play it exactly in the same way as do the Asiatics. Four stones
are placed on the table, the Jack is tossed, one stone is picked up and
laid down while the Jack is in the air. Then another stone is picked up as
the Jack is tossed and laid down as before, until all are used. In "Korean
Games," Mr. Culin describes this play, but no reference is made to the
preceding sets, although they are played in Europe.
"Setting the Eggs," or Al-Houm-Ki, calls for four of the stones being
placed beside the left hand and pushed under it, as is done in "Peas in
the Pot."
"Hatching the Eggs," or Al-Kka-Ki, consists in holding all the stones in
the right hand, with one tucked under the little finger. This is then
dropped gently on the table while the Jack is tossed, the other stones
being held in the hand, and this is repeated until all are down.
A good player may work right through the whole number of sets before the
opponents have a chance to play at all. Children often arrange handicaps
among themselves to prevent this. One peculiarity of the game seems to be
that it is a point of honour among the children to take no unfair
advantage of each other, but to try to assist and make the others win if
possible, and it is one of the few games played by children that seldom
lead to quarrelling. There are variations of the sets, but the above is
the standard game.
Quite different from the last, which is simply one of skill, is the game
known as Jackstraws, which is a primitive game, but it is played all over
the world, and is evidently derived from the "arrows of divination." A set
of Chinese Jackstraws in the writer's collection was made about the middle
of the last century, probably for exportation, for some of the straws are
European in character. They are of ivory, which is most delicately
carved, and are not coloured, as are some of the sets of Chinese
Jackstraws that are carved out of bone. They were imported by a naval
officer who was on the expedition under Commodore Perry which opened the
treaty ports of Japan to American trade.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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