Volume I Part 26 (2/2)

Cross-bars

A boys' game.-Halliwell's _Dictionary_.

Cross-questions

Nares (_Glossary_) mentions this game in a quotation from Wilson's _Inconstant Lady_, 1614. ”Cross Questions and Crooked Answers” was a popular game at juvenile parties. The players sit in a circle, and each is asked in a whisper a question by the one on his left, and receives also in a whisper an answer to a question asked by himself of the person on his right. Each player must remember both the question he was asked and the answer he received, which have at the conclusion of the round to be stated aloud. Forfeits must be given if mistakes are made.-A. B.

Gomme.

Cross Tig

One of the players is appointed to be Tig. He calls out the name of the one he intends to chase, and runs after him. Another player runs across between Tig and the fugitive, and then Tig runs after this cross-player until another player runs across between Tig and the fugitive; and so on. Each time a player crosses between Tig and the player he is following he leaves the original chase and follows the player who has crossed. When he captures, or, in some places, touches one of the players he is following, this player becomes Tig, and the game begins again.-Ireland (Miss Keane).

This game is known in and near London as ”Cross Touch.”

Cry Notchil

This is an old game where boys push one of their number into a circle they have made, and as he tries to escape push him back, crying, ”No child of mine!” (Leigh's _Ches.h.i.+re Glossary_). He adds, ”This may be the origin of the husband's disclaimer of his wife when he 'notchils' her.”

To ”cry notchil” is for a man to advertise that he will not be answerable for debts incurred by his wife.

Cuck-ball

A game at ball. The same as ”Pize-ball.” It is sometimes called ”Tut-ball.”-Addy's _Sheffield Glossary_.

See ”Ball.”

Cuckoo

A child hides and cries ”Cuckoo.” The seekers respond-

Cuckoo cherry-tree, Catch a bird and bring it me.

-Burne's _Shrops.h.i.+re Folk-lore_, p. 222.

Halliwell calls this a game at ball, and the rhyme runs-

Cuckoo cherry tree, Catch a bird and bring it me; Let the tree be high or low, Let it hail, rain or snow.

See ”Hide and Seek.”

Cuddy and the Powks

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