The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (Vol 2 of 2): With Tunes, Singing-Rhymes, and Methods of Playing etc.Gomme, Alice Bertha
General
The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (Vol 2 of 2): With Tunes, Singing-Rhymes, and Methods of Playing etc.
Gomme, Alice Bertha
Folklore -- Great Britain; Games -- Great Britain
VI. Here come some travellers three by three,
And down by a door they bend their knee.
“Can we get lodgings here?”
The fairest one that I can see
Is pretty little ——, come to me,
And you’ll get lodgings here—
“Will you come?” “Yes,” or “No!”
—Isle of Man (A. W. Moore).
(_c_) The players form in two lines, and stand facing one another. One
line consists of a mother and daughters. The other of the suitors. The
mother stands a little in advance of her daughters. They remain
stationary during the game, the mother alone singing the words on her
side. The suitors advance and retire in line while singing their verses.
The mother turns partly round when singing the two first lines of her
verses addressing her daughters, and then faces the suitors when singing
to them the remaining two lines. When she accepts the “kings” she
brings one of her daughters forward, presents her to the suitors, and
shows them the money in her pocket, and the ring on her finger. The
daughter goes with the kings, who take her a little way apart, pretend
to rob her of her ring, money, and clothes, and then bring her back to
her mother, and sing the last verse. They then run off in all
directions, and the mother and daughters chase and catch them, and they
change sides. Sometimes all the daughters are taken by the suitors
before they are robbed and brought back. The game is also played by five
players only; three representing the sailors or suitors, and two the
mother and daughter. The mother then chases the suitors, and whoever she
catches becomes the daughter the next game. These are the usual methods
of playing. In the Norfolk version the middle one of the three suitors
takes the girl, robs her, and all three bring her back and sing the
verses. In the Isle of Man version one player sits down, the others join
hands, advance and retire singing the lines. The girl who is chosen
joins the one sitting down.
(_d_) This game points to that period of tribal society, when the youths
of one tribe sought to obtain their wives from the maidens of another
tribe according to the laws of exogamy, but a definite person is here
selected for the wife, and it is to the relatives or persons having
authority (as in “Three Knights”) that the demand for the bride is made,
and not to the girl personally, as in “Three Dukes.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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