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 singular rustic amusement. One lays his hand down on a table, another
clashes his upon it, a third his on that, and so on (fig. 1). When all
the players have done this, the one who has his hand on the board pulls
it out and lays it on the one uppermost (fig. 2): they all follow in
rotation, and so a continual clashing and dashing is kept up; hence
the name “Dish.” Those who win the game are those who stand out
longest—viz., those who are best at enduring pain. Tender hands could
not stand it a moment: one dash of a rustic “loof” would make the blood
spurt from the tip of every finger. It is a piece of pastime to country
lads of the same nature as “Hard Knuckles” (Mactaggart’s _Gallovidian
Encyclopædia_). This is a well-known game for small children in London.
After each child’s hands have been withdrawn and replaced on top as many
times as possible without deranging the order, a general scramble and
knocking of hands together ends the game (A. B. Gomme). Jamieson
(_Etymological Dict._) gives this as a sport of children.
[Illustration: Fig. 1. Fig. 2.]
See “Dump,” “Green Grass,” “Hot Cockles.”
Doddart
A game played in a large level field with a bent stick called “doddart.”
Two parties, headed by two captains, endeavour to drive a wooden ball to
their respective boundaries (Halliwell’s _Dictionary_). Brockett (_North
Country Words_) adds to this that the captains are entitled to choose
their followers by alternate votes. A piece of globular wood called an
“orr” or “coit” is thrown down in the middle of the field and driven to
one of two opposite hedges—the alley, hail-goal, or boundary. The same
game as “Clubby,” “Hockey,” “Shinney,” “Shinneyhaw.”
Doncaster Cherries
One boy kneels, holding a long rope, the other end of which is held by
another boy; the other players stand round about with handkerchiefs in
hands, knotted. The one who holds the rope-end and standing cries out—
Doncaster cherries, ripe and sound;
Touch ’em or taste ’em—
Down, you dogs!
—Earls Heaton, Yorkshire (H. Hardy).
This is evidently a version of “Badger the Bear,” with a different and
apparently degraded formula.
Dools
A school game. The dools are places marked with stones, where the
players always remain in safety—where they dare neither be caught by
the hand nor struck with balls. It is only when they leave these places
of refuge that those out of the doons have any chance to gain the game
and get in; and leave the doons they frequently must—this is the nature
of the game. Now this game seems to have been often played in reality by
our ancestors about their doon-hills.—Mactaggart’s _Gallovidian
Encyclopædia_.
Down in the Valley
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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