Volume I Part 31 (2/2)
10.
-
-
-
11.
-
-
-
12.
One go rush and the
-
-
other go hush.
13.
-
Give a gold ring and a
A guinea gold ring and
silver watch.
a silver pin.
14.
Pretty young lady, bop
Pray, young lady, pop
Pray, young lady, pop
under my bush.
under.
under.
15.
-
-
-
16.
-
-
-
17.
-
-
-
18.
-
-
-
+---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
+---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
No.
Earls Heaton.
Lincolns.h.i.+re and
Gloucesters.h.i.+re.
Nottinghams.h.i.+re.
+---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
1.
Draw a bucket of
See saw, a bucket of
-
water.
water.
2.
-
-
-
3.
-
-
-
4.
-
-
-
5.
To wash my lady's
To wash my lady's
-
garter.
garter.
6.
-
-
-
7.
-
-
-
8.
-
-
-
9.
-
-
-
10.
-
-
-
11.
-
-
-
12.
-
One in a rush and two
One we go rush, two we
in a bush.
go push.
13.
A guinea gold ring and
-
-
a silver pin.
14.
Please, little girl,
To see a fine lady pop
Lady, come under the
pop under.
under a bush.
corner bush.
15.
-
-
-
16.
-
-
-
17.
-
-
-
18.
-
-
-
+---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
+---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
No.
Belfast.
Halliwell's Version
Crockham Hill.
(No. 2).
+---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
1.
-
-
Draw a bucket of
water.
2.
Sift the lady's
Sieve my lady's
-
oatmeal.
oatmeal.
3.
Sift it into flour.
Grind my lady's flour.
-
4.
-
-
For a lady's daughter.
5.
-
-
-
6.
Put it in a chest of
Put it in a chestnut.
-
drawers.
7.
Let it lie an hour.
Let it stand an hour.
-
8.
-
-
9.
-
-
-
10.
-
-
-
11.
-
-
-
12.
One of my rush, two of
One may rush, two may
One in a bush, two in
my rush.
rush.
a bush, three in a
bush, four in a bush.
13.
-
-
-
14.
Please, young lady,
Come, my girls, walk
-
come under my bush.
under the bush.
15.
My bush is too high,
-
-
my bush is too low.
16.
Please, young lady,
-
-
come under my bow.
17.
Stir up the dumpling.
-
-
18.
-
-
And out you go.
+---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
The a.n.a.lysis shows that the majority of the variants retain four princ.i.p.al incidents of what must have been the original form of the game, and the fact of the Gloucesters.h.i.+re version having come down with only two of the incidents, namely, the two most common to all the variants (12 and 14), shows that the game has been in a state of decadence. The four princ.i.p.al incidents, Nos. 1, 4, 12, and 14, point distinctly to some water ceremonial; and if it may be argued that the incidents which occur in only one or two of the variants may be considered to have belonged to the original type, we shall be able to suggest that this game presents a dramatic representation of ancient well-wors.h.i.+p. The incidents which occur in one version only are those given by Mr. Halliwell, and unfortunately the locality from which he obtained this variant is unknown. Still it is an earlier version than those which are now printed for the first time, and may without doubt be looked upon as genuine. Taking all the incidents of the various versions as the means by which to restore the earliest version, it would appear that this might have consisted of the following lines:-
Draw a pail of water For a lady's daughter; Her father's a king, her mother's a queen, Her two little sisters are dressed in green, Stamping gra.s.s and parsley, marigold leaves and daisies; Sift the lady's oatmeal, sift it into flour, Put it in a chestnut tree, let it lie an hour; Give a silver pin and a gold ring, One and a hus.h.!.+ two and a rus.h.!.+
Pray, young lady, pop under a bush; My bush is too high, my bush is too low, Please, young lady, come under my bow!
(_d_) This restoration of the words, though it probably is far from complete, and does not make so good a game rhyme as the reduced versions, nevertheless shows clearly enough that the incidents belong to a ceremonial of primitive well-wors.h.i.+p. The pulling of the hands backwards and forwards may be taken to indicate the raising of water from a well. If this is conceded, the incidents might be grouped as follows:-
(1.) Drawing of water from a well.
(2.) For a devotee at the well.
(3.) Collecting flowers for dressing the well.
(4.) Making of a cake for presentation.
(5.) Gifts to the well [the silver pin, gold ring, and probably the garter].
(6.) Command of silence.
(7.) The presence of the devotee at the sacred bush.
All these are incidents of primitive well-wors.h.i.+p (see Gomme's _Ethnology and Folk-lore_, pp. 82-103). Garland dressing is very general; cakes were eaten at Rorrington well, Shrops.h.i.+re (Burne's _Shrops.h.i.+re Folk-lore_, p. 433); pins and portions of the dress are very general offerings; silence is strictly enforced in many instances, and a sacred tree or bush is very frequently found near the well.
The tune of the Hamps.h.i.+re game (Miss Mendham's version) is practically the same as that of the ”Mulberry Bush.”
Newell (_Games of American Children_, p. 90) gives a version of this game.
Drawing Dun out of the Mire
Brand, quoting from ”an old collection of satires, epigrams, &c.,” says this game is enumerated among other pastimes:
At shove-groat, venter-point, or crosse and pile, At leaping o'er a Midsummer bone-fier, Or at _the drawing Dun out of the myer_.
So in the _Dutchesse of Suffolke_, 1631:
Well done, my masters, lends your hands, _Draw Dun out of the ditch_, Draw, pull, helpe all, so, so, well done.
[_They pull him out._]
They had shoved Bishop Bonner into a well, and were pulling him out.
We find this game noticed at least as early as Chaucer's time, in the _Manciple's Prologue_:
Then gan our hoste to j.a.pe and to play, And sayd, sires, what? _Dun is in the mire._
Nares (_Glossary_) says this game was a rural pastime, in which _Dun_ meant a dun horse, supposed to be stuck in the mire, and sometimes represented by one of the persons who played.
Gifford (_Ben Jonson_, vol. vii. p. 283), who remembered having played at the game (doubtless in his native county, Devons.h.i.+re), thus describes it:-”A log of wood is brought into the midst of the room: this is Dun (the cart horse), and a cry is raised that he is stuck in the mire. Two of the company advance, either with or without ropes, to draw him out.
After repeated attempts they find themselves unable to do it, and call for more a.s.sistance. The game continues till all the company take part in it, when Dun is extricated of course; and the merriment arises from the awkward and affected efforts of the rustics to lift the log, and sundry arch contrivances to let the ends of it fall on one another's toes.”
Drop Handkerchief
This is a game similar to Cat and Mouse, but takes its name from the use of the handkerchief to start the pursuit. Various rhyming formulae are used in some places. In Monton, Lancas.h.i.+re (Miss Dendy), no rhyme is used.
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