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Volume I Part 44 (1/2)

The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland Alice Bertha Gomme 76160K 2022-07-22

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XIV. Green gravel, green gravel, the gra.s.s is so green, The fairest young lady that ever was seen.

As I went up Miss Betsey's stairs to buy a frying-pan, There sat Miss Betsey a-kissing her young man.

She pulled off her glove and showed me her ring, And the very next morning the bells did ring.

Dear Betsey, dear Betsey, your true love is dead, He's sent you a letter to turn back your head.

-Summertown, Oxford (A. H. Franklin, _Midland Garner_, vol. ii. p. 32).

XV. Round the green gravel the gra.s.s grows green, All pretty fair maids are fit to be seen; Wash them in milk, and clothe them in silk, And write down their names with pen and black ink- Choose one, choose two, choose the fairest daughter.

Now, my daughter, married to-day, Like father and mother they should be, To love one another like sister and brother- I pray you now to kiss one another.

Now my daughter Mary's gone, With her pockets all lined with gold; On my finger a gay gold ring- Good-bye, Mary, good-bye.

Now this poor widow is left alone, n.o.body could marry a better one; Choose one, choose two- Choose the fairest daughter.

-Sheffield (S. O. Addy).

XVI. Round the green gravel the gra.s.s is so green, And all the fine ladies that ever were seen; Washed in milk and dressed in silk, The last that stoops down shall be married.

[Johnnie Smith] is a nice young man, And so is [Bessie Jones] as nice as he; He came to the door with his hat in his hand, Inquiring for [Miss Jones].

She is neither within, she is neither without, She is up in the garret a-walking about.

Down she came, as white as milk, With a rose in her bosom as soft as silk.

Silks and satins be ever so dear, You shall have a kiss [gown?], my dear, So off with the glove and on with the ring- To-morrow, to-morrow, the wedding begins.

-Forest of Dean, Gloucesters.h.i.+re (Miss Matthews).

XVII. Around a green gravill The gra.s.s is so green, And all the fine ladies Ashamed to be seen.

They wash 'em in milk And dress 'em in silk- We'll all cou' don' together.

My elbow, my elbow, My pitcher and my can; Isn't -- A nice young gell?

Isn't -- As nice as her- They shall be married with a guinea-gold ring.

I peep'd through the window, I peep'd through the door, I seed pretty -- A-dancin on the floor; I cuddled her an' fo'dled her, I set her on my knee; I says pretty -- Won't [ee?] you marry me.

A new-swept parlour, An' a new-made bed, A new cup and saucer Again we get wed.

If it be a boy, he shall have a hat, To follow with his mammy to her na', na', na'; If he be a gell, she shall have a ring, To follow with her mammy to her ding, ding, ding.

-Wakefield (Miss Fowler).

(_c_) The more general way of playing this game is to form a ring of children simply. The children walk round singing the verse as in the Belfast version, and when the last line is sung, the child whose name is mentioned turns round, facing the outside of the ring and having her back to the centre. She continues to hold hands with the others, and dances round with them in that position. This is repeated until all the children have ”turned” their backs to the inside of the ring. Here the game ends in many cases, but another verse is sung in the Lincoln, Winterton, and Wakefield versions from Miss Peac.o.c.k, and this was sung also in the London version. The second verse thus terminates the game, with the players one by one reversing their position and facing the centre of ring as at first. In the Forest of Dean and Wakefield versions the action of the game is somewhat different. A child stands in the centre of the ring of children, without apparently taking much part in the game, except to name the children in turn. In the Wakefield version, however (Miss Fowler, No. xvii.), a little boy stands in the middle of a circle of girls who sing the first verse. At ”We'll all cou'

don' together,” all crouch down, as if in profound respect, then rising slowly, sing the next verse. After ”My pitcher and my can,” each child mentions her own name. At ”Isn't -- as nice as her?” each mentions her sweetheart's name, and the child thus chosen goes into the circle. At the end of the fourth verse they all clap hands, and the one that is sweetheart to him in the middle kisses him. The ”crouching down” is also done in the Forest of Dean version when singing the fourth line. The last one to stoop has to name her sweetheart. When this is done, the children all dance round and sing the other lines.

(_d_) The a.n.a.lysis of the game-rhymes is on pp. 178-181. The most constant formulae of this game-rhyme are shown by this a.n.a.lysis to be Nos. 1, 6, 7, 13, 15, 18, 23, and the variants, though important, are not sufficient to detract from the significance of the normal version.

It is evidently a funeral game. The green gravel and the green gra.s.s indicate the locality of the scene; ”green,” as applied to gravel, may mean freshly disturbed, just as green grave means a freshly made grave.

The tenant of the new grave is the well-loved lady of a disconsolate lover, and probably the incidents of was.h.i.+ng and dressing the corpse, and putting an inscription on the place where it is laid, are indicated by Nos. 13 and 15. The dirge, or singing to the dead, is indicated by Nos. 18, 23, and 26, and the beauty of the first line is in complete accord with the mournful music. That No. 26 occurs in only two variants, Derbys.h.i.+re and the Isle of Man, is curious, as the pathos of this appeal is very apparent in the movement of the game. The communion with the dead which is indicated by No. 23 is by no means considered impossible by the peasantry. In confirmation of this being a representation of an old funeral ceremony, it may be pointed out that the action of turning backwards during the singing of the dirge is also represented in the curious funeral ceremony called ”Dish-a-loof,” which is described in Henderson's _Folk-lore of the Northern Counties_, p. 53. Henderson's words are: ”All the attendants, going out of the room, return into it backwards, repeating this rhyme of 'saining.'” The additional ceremony of marriage in four of the games is clearly an interpolation, which may have arisen from the custom of playing love and marriage games at funerals and during the watching with the corpse, or may be a mere transition to the more pleasant task of love-making as the basis of a game. The Derbys.h.i.+re incident (No. 24) may indicate indeed that the funeral is that of a young bride, and in that case the tendency to make the game wholly a marriage game is accounted for. The decay which has set in is apparent by the evident attempt to alter from ”green gravel”

to ”green grover” and ”yellow gravel” (Nos. 4 and 5), and to introduce pen and black ink (No. 17). The addition of the incongruous elements from other games (Nos. 27-31) is a frequent occurrence in modern games, and is the natural result of decadence in the original form of the game.

Altogether this game-rhyme affords a very good example of the condition of traditional games among the present generation of children.

+---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

No.

Belfast.

Shrops.h.i.+re.

Derbys.h.i.+re.

+---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

Green gravel.

Around the green

gravel.

Your gra.s.s is so

The gra.s.s is so green.

green.

The fairest damsel

ever seen.

The fairest young lady

ever seen.

All pretty maids are

plain to be seen.

10.

11.

12.

13.

Washed her, dried her,

rolled her in silk.

14.

Wash you in milk,

Wash them in milk,

clothe in silk.

15.

Wrote name in gla.s.s

pen and ink.

16.

Write name in gold pen

Write names in gold

and ink.

pen and ink.

17.

18.

Your true love is

True love is dead.

Her sweetheart is

dead.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

He sent letter to turn

your head.

24.

She's left off her

wedding to turn back

her head.

25.

26.

Mother, is it true;

What shall I do? [Then

repeat Nos. 14 & 16.]

27.

28.

29.

30.

31.

+---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

No.

Earls Heaton, Yorks.

Lincolns.h.i.+re.

Redhill, Surrey.

+---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

Green gravel.

The gra.s.s is so green.

Fairest damsel ever

seen.

10.

Such beautiful flowers

ever seen.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

Sweetheart is dead.

True love is dead.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

He sent letter to turn

your head.

24.

25.

26.

27.

True love not dead, he

sends letter to turn

your head.

28.

29.

30.

31.

+---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

No.

Sporle, Norfolk.

Gainford, Durham.

Hants.

+---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

Green gravels.

Green meadows.

Green grover.

Your gra.s.s is so

The gra.s.s is so green.

green.

Fairest damsel ever

seen.

Prettiest young lady

ever seen.

10.

11.

All pretty maidens are

_not_ to be seen.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

Sweetheart is dead.

True love is dead.

19.

Except -- she's not to

be seen.

20.

21.

22.

23.

We sent letter to turn

I send letter to turn

your head.

round your head.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

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