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
(_b_) The players stand in a circle, but they do not necessarily hold
hands, nor do they move round. One player kneels or stands in the
centre, and another walks round outside the circle. The child in the
centre asks the questions, and the child outside (Johnny Lingo) replies.
When the last answer is given, the outside player, or Johnny Lingo,
touches one of the circle on the back; this player, without speaking,
then follows Johnny Lingo and stands behind her holding her by her
dress, or round the waist. The dialogue is then repeated, and another
child taken. This is continued until all the circle are behind Johnny
Lingo. Then the child in the centre tries to catch one of them, and
Johnny Lingo tries to prevent it; as soon as one player is caught she
stands aside, and when all are caught the game is over.
This is the usual way of playing. The variations are: in Galloway,
Enbourne, Keith, and Hanbury, the centre player shuts her eyes, or is
blindfolded. In the Almondbury version, when the centre child gets up to
look for his sheep, and finds them (they do not stand behind Johnny
Ringo, but hide), they run about “baaing;” when he catches them he
pretends to cut their heads off. In Chambers’s description of the game,
all the players except two sit upon the ground in a circle (sitting or
lying down also obtains at Barnes), one of the two stands inside, and
the other personates “Bloody Tom.” Bloody Tom tries to carry off a
player after the dialogue has been said, and the centre child tries to
prevent this one from being taken, and the rest of the circle “cower
more closely round him.” In the Macduff version, when all the players
have been taken, the centre child runs about crying, “Where are all my
chickens?” Some of the “chickens,” on hearing this, try to run away from
“Limping Tom” to her, and he tries to prevent them. He puts them all
behind him in single file, and the centre child then tries to catch
them; when she catches them all she becomes Limping Tom, and he the
shepherd or hen. Dr. Gregor says (Keith)—The game is generally played by
boys; the keeper kneels or sits in the middle of the circle; when all
the sheep are gone, and he gets no answers to his questions, he crawls
away still blindfolded, and searches for the lost sheep. The first
player he finds becomes keeper, and he becomes Bloody Tom. In the
Winterton version (No. I.) there is a further dialogue. The game is
played in the usual way at the beginning. When Jacko Lingo says, “Follow
me” (he had previously, when saying one by one and two by two, &c.,
touched three children on their back in turn), the third one touched
leaves the ring, and stands behind him holding his clothes or waist.
This is done until all the children forming the circle are holding on
behind him. The child in the centre then asks the next question. When
she says, “Here’s my black sheep,” she tries to dodge behind Jacky
Lingo, and catch the child behind him. When she has done this she begins
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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