The children stand in a ring. One runs round with a handkerchief and drops it; the child behind whom it is dropped chases the dropper, the one who gets home first takes the vacant place, the other drops the handkerchief again.
In Shropshire the two players pursue one another in and out of the ring, running under the uplifted hands of the players who compose it: the pursuer carefully keeping on the track of the pursued (Burne"s _Shropshire Folk-lore_, p. 512).
The Dorsetshire variant is accompanied by a rhyme:
I wrote a letter to my love; I carried water in my glove; And by the way I dropped it- I dropped it, I dropped it, I dropped it, &c.
This is repeated until the handkerchief is stealthily dropped immediately behind one of the players, who should be on the alert to follow as quickly as possible the one who has dropped it, who at once increases her speed and endeavours to take the place left vacant by her pursuer. Should she be caught before she can succeed in doing this she is compelled to take the handkerchief a second time. But if, as it more usually happens, she is successful in accomplishing this, the pursuer in turn takes the handkerchief, and the game proceeds as before.-Symondsbury (_Folk-lore Journal_, vi. 212).
Jack lost his supper last night, And the night before; if he does again to-night, He never will no more-more-more-more.
I wrote a letter to my love, And on the way I dropt it; Some of you have picked it up, And got it in your pocket-pocket-pocket-pocket.
I have a little dog, it won"t bite you- It won"t bite you-it won"t bite you- It _will_ bite you.
-Leicestershire (Miss Ellis).
The Forest of Dean version is the same as the Dorsetshire, except that the child who is unsuccessful in gaining the vacant place has to stand in the middle of the ring until the same thing happens to another child.-Miss Matthews.
In Nottinghamshire the children form in a ring; one walks round outside the ring singing and carrying a handkerchief:
I wrote a letter to my love, and on the way I dropt it; One of you has picked it up and put it in your pocket.
It isn"t you, it isn"t you, &c. &c.; it is you.
The handkerchief is then dropped at some one"s back, the one at whose back the handkerchief was dropped chasing the other.
Or they say:
I lost my supper last night, I lost it the night before, And if I lose it again to-night, I"ll knock at somebody"s door.
It isn"t you, it isn"t you, &c. &c.; it"s you.
-Miss Winfield.
At Winterton and Lincoln the children form a circle, standing arms-length apart. A child holding a handkerchief occupies the centre of the ring and sings:
Wiskit-a-waskit, A green leather basket; I wrote a letter to my love, And on the way I lost it; Some of you have picked it up, And put it in your pocket.
I have a little dog at home, And it shan"t bite you,
(Here the singer points to each child in turn)
Nor you, nor you, nor you; But it shall bite _you_.
Then she drops the handkerchief before her chosen playmate, who chases her in and out of the ring under the arms of the other children until she is captured. The captor afterwards takes the place in the centre, and the original singer becomes a member of the circle.-Miss M.
Peac.o.c.k.
The Deptford version of the verse is as follows:-
I had a little dog whose name was Buff, I sent him up the street for a penny"orth of snuff, He broke my box and spilt my snuff, I think my story is long enough- "Tain"t you, and "tain"t you, and "tis you!
-Deptford, Kent (Miss Chase).
A Staffordshire and Sharleston version gives some altogether different formulae:-
What colour"s the sky?
Blue.
Look up again.
Like a W.
Follow me through every little hole that I go through.
-Staffordshire (Rev. G. T. Royds, Rector of Haughton).
At Sharleston the centre child says, "What colour is t" sky?" The other answers, "Blue." Centre child says, "Follow me true." Here the centre child runs in and out between the others until the one who was touched catches her, when they change places, the first joining the children in the ring.-Sharleston (Miss Fowler).
At Beddgelert, Wales (Mrs. Williams), this game is called Tartan Boeth.
It is played in precisely the same manner as the English game, but the words used are:
Tartan Boeth, Oh ma"en llosgi, Boeth iawn Hot Tart. Oh, it burns! very hot!
At the words, "Very hot!" the handkerchief is dropped.
(_b_) In this game no kissing takes place, and that this is no mere accidental omission may be shown by Mr. Udal"s description of the Dorsetshire game. He was a.s.sured by several persons who are interested in Dorset Children"s Games that the indiscriminate kissing (that is, whether the girl pursued runs little or far, or, when overtaken, whether she objects or not) with which this game is ordinarily a.s.sociated, as played now both in Dorset and in other counties, was not indigenous to this county, but was merely a pernicious after-growth or outcome of later days, which had its origin in the various excursion and holiday fetes, which the facilities of railway travelling had inst.i.tuted, by bringing large crowds from the neighbouring towns into the country. He was told that thirty years ago such a thing was unknown in the country districts of Dorset, when the game then usually indulged in was known merely as "Drop the Handkerchief" (_Folk-lore Journal_, vii. 212).
In other cases the rhymes are used for a purely kissing game, for which see "Kiss in the Ring."
Dropping the Letter
An undescribed Suffolk boys" game.-Moor"s _Suffolk Words_, p. 238.
Duck under the Water
Each child chooses a partner, and form in couples standing one before the other, till a long line is formed. Each couple holds a handkerchief as high as they can to form an arch. The couple standing at the end of the line run through the arch just beyond the last couple standing at the top, when they stand still and hold their handkerchief as high as possible, which is the beginning of the second arch; this is repeated by every last couple in succession, so that as many arches as are wanted can be formed.-East Kirkby, Lincolnshire (Miss K. Maughan).
Miss Baker (_Northamptonshire Glossary_) says the game is played in that county. Formerly in the northern part of the county even married women on May Day played at it under the May garland, which was extended from chimney to chimney across the village street.
Duck at the Table
A boys" game, played with round stones and a table-shaped block of stone.-Patterson"s _Antrim and Down Glossary_.
Probably the same as Duckstone.
Duck Dance
[Music]
-London (A. B. Gomme).