The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (Vol 1 of 2): With Tunes, Singing-Rhymes and Methods of Playing etc.Gomme, Alice Bertha
History
The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (Vol 1 of 2): With Tunes, Singing-Rhymes and Methods of Playing etc.
Gomme, Alice Bertha
Folklore -- Great Britain; Games -- Great Britain
A Giant is chosen, and he must be provided with a cave. A summer-house
will do, if there is no window for the Giant to see out of. The others
then have to knock at the door with their knuckles separately. The Giant
rushes when he thinks all the children have knocked, and if he succeeds
in catching one before they reach a place of safety (appointed
beforehand) the captured one becomes Giant.—Bitterne, Hants (Mrs.
Byford). See “Wolf.”
Giddy
Giddy, giddy, gander,
Who stands yonder?
Little Bessy Baker,
Pick her up and shake her;
Give her a bit of bread and cheese,
And throw her over the water.
—Warwickshire.
_(b)_ A girl being blindfolded, her companions join hands and form a
ring round her. At the word “Yonder” the blindfolded girl points in any
direction she pleases, and at line three names one of the girls. If the
one pointed at and the one named be the same, she is the next to be
blinded; but, curiously enough, if they be not the same, the one named
is the one. Meanwhile, at line four, she is not “picked up,” but is
shaken by the shoulders by the still blindfolded girl; and at line five
she is given by the same “bread and cheese,” _i.e._, the buds or young
leaves of what later is called “May” (_Cratægus oxyacantha_); and at
line six she is taken up under the blinded girl’s arm and swung
round.—Warwickshire (_Notes and Queries_, 6th Ser., viii. 451).
Gilty-galty (or gaulty)
A boy’s game. One boy is chosen, who says:—
Gilty-galty four-and-forty,
Two tens make twenty.
He then counts one, two, three, four, &c., up to forty, having his eyes
covered by his hands, and the others hide while he is saying the
“nominy.” At the conclusion he uncovers his eyes, and if he sees any
boys not yet hidden they have to stand still. He seeks the rest, but if
he moves far away from his place, called the “stooil” (stool), one of
the hidden boys may rush out and take it, provided he can get there
first. Should he fail in this he also has to stand aside; but if any one
succeeds, then all run out as before, and the same boy has to say the
“nominy” again. On the other hand, if he finds all the boys without
loosing his “stooil,” the boy first caught has to take his place and say
the “nominy.” The game was thus played in 1810, and is so still, both
here and at Lepton.—Easther’s _Almondbury and Huddersfield Glossary_.
Gipsy
I charge my children, every one,
To keep good house while I am gone.
You, and you [points], but specially you
[or sometimes, but specially Sue],
Or else I’ll beat you black and blue.
One child is selected for Gipsy, one for Mother, and one for Daughter
Sue. The Mother says the lines, and points to several children to
emphasise her words. During her absence the Gipsy comes in, entices a
child away, and hides her. This process is repeated till all the
children are hidden, when the mother has to find them.—Halliwell
(_Nursery Rhymes_, p. 228).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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