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 game among boys, in which the players throw at a stone set up on
edge.—Barnes (_Dorset Glossary_).
Magic Whistle
All the players but three sit on chairs, or stand in two long rows
facing each other. One player sits at one end of the two rows as
president; another player is then introduced into the room by the third
player, who leads him up between the two rows. He is then told to kneel
before the one sitting at the end of the row of players. When he kneels
any ridiculous words or formula can be said by the presiding boy, and
then he and those players who are nearest to the kneeling boy rub his
back with their hands for two or three minutes. While they are doing
this the boy who led the victim up to the president fastens a string, to
which is attached a small whistle, to the victim’s coat or jacket. It
must be fastened in such a way that the whistle hangs loosely, and will
not knock against his back. The whistle is then blown by the player who
attached it, and the kneeling boy is told to rise and search for the
Magic Whistle. The players who are seated in the chairs must all hold
their hands in such a way that the victim suspects it is in their
possession, and proceeds to search. The whistle must be blown as often
as possible, and in all directions, by those players only who can do so
without the victim being able to either see or feel that he is carrying
the whistle with him.—London (A. B. Gomme).
This game is also called “Knight of the Whistle.” The boy who is to be
made a Knight of the Order of the Whistle, when led up between the two
rows of players, has a cloak put round his shoulders and a cap with a
feather in it on his head. The whistle is then fastened on to the cloak.
This is described by the Rev. J. G. Wood (_Modern Playmate_, p. 189).
Newell (_Games_, p. 122) gives this with a jesting formula of initiation
into knighthood. He says it was not a game of children, but belonged to
an older age.
See “Call-the-Guse.”
Magical Music
A pleasant drawing-room evening amusement.—Moor’s _Suffolk Words_.
Probably the same as “Musical Chairs.”
Malaga, Malaga Raisins
A forfeit game. The players sat in a circle. One acquainted with the
trick took a poker in his right hand, made some eccentric movements with
it, passed it to his left, and gave it to his next neighbour on that
side, saying, “Malaga, Malaga raisins, very good raisins I vow,” and
told him to do the same. Should he fail to pass it from right to left,
when he in his turn gave it to his neighbour, without being told where
the mistake lay, he was made to pay a forfeit.—Cornwall (_Folk-lore
Journal_, v. 50).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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