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
III. There was a jolly miller, and he lived by himself,
As the wheel goes round he makes his wealth;
One hand in his hopper, and the other in his bag,
As we go round he makes his grab.
—Monton, Lancashire (Miss Dendy).
IV. There was a jolly miller, and he lived by himself,
As the mill went round he gained his wealth;
One hand in the hopper, and the other in the bag,
As the mill went round he made his grab.
Sandy he belongs to the mill,
And the mill belongs to Sandy still,
And the mill belongs to Sandy.
—Addy’s _Sheffield Glossary_.
V. There was a jolly miller, and he lived by himself,
As the wheel went round he made his wealth;
One hand in the upper and the other in the bank,
As the wheel went round he made his wealth.
—Earls Heaton, Yorks. (Herbert Hardy).
VI. There was a jolly miller, and he lived by himself,
As the wheel went round he made his grab;
One hand in the other, and the other in the bag,
As the wheel went round he made his grab.
—Nottinghamshire (Miss Winfield).
VII. There was a jolly miller, and he lived by himself (or by the
Dee),
The sails went round, he made his ground;
One hand in his pocket, the other in his bag.
—North Staffs. Potteries (Miss A. A. Keary).
(_b_) This game requires an uneven number of players. All the children
except one stand in couples arm in arm, each couple closely following
the other. This forms a double ring or wheel (fig. 1). The odd child
stands in the centre. The children forming the wheel walk round in a
circle and sing the verse. When they come to the word “grab,” those
children standing on the _inside_ of the wheel leave hold of their
partners’ arms, and try to catch hold of the one standing immediately in
front of their previous partners. The child in the centre (or Miller)
tries (while they are changing places) to secure a partner and place
(fig. 2). If he succeeds in doing this, the one then left out becomes
the Miller. At Leicester the “odd” child, or “miller,” stands _outside_
the wheel or ring, instead of being in the centre, and it is the outside
children who change places. Mr. Addy, in the Sheffield version, says,
“The young men stand in the outer ring, and the young women in the
inner. A man stands within the inner circle, quite near to it. The men
try and grasp the arm of the girl in front of them, and the man in the
centre also tries to grasp one; the man he displaces taking his place as
Miller. Then the three last lines are sung.”
[Illustration: Fig. 1.]
[Illustration: Fig. 2.]
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.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account