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diff --git a/40457-8.txt b/40457-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 43102df..0000000 --- a/40457-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6301 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's Comparative Studies in Nursery Rhymes, by Lina Eckenstein - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Comparative Studies in Nursery Rhymes - -Author: Lina Eckenstein - -Release Date: August 8, 2012 [EBook #40457] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COMPARATIVE STUDIES--NURSERY RHYMES *** - - - - -Produced by David Edwards, Cathy Maxam, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - - COMPARATIVE STUDIES - IN NURSERY RHYMES - - - - - COMPARATIVE STUDIES - IN - NURSERY RHYMES - - BY - LINA ECKENSTEIN - AUTHOR OF "WOMAN UNDER MONASTICISM" - - - _There were more things in Mrs. Gurton's eye, - Mayhap, than are dreamed of in our philosophy_ - - C. S. CALVERLEY - - - [Illustration] - - - LONDON - DUCKWORTH & CO. - 3 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN - 1906 - - - - -TO THE GENTLE READER - - -The walls of the temple of King Sety at Abydos in Upper Egypt are -decorated with sculptured scenes which represent the cult of the gods -and the offerings brought to them. In a side chapel there is depicted -the following curious scene. A dead figure lies extended on a bier; -sorrowing hawks surround him; a flying hawk reaches down a seal amulet -from above. Had I succeeded in procuring a picture of the scene, it -would stand reproduced here; for the figure and his mourners recalled -the quaint little woodcut of a toy-book which told the tale of the Death -and Burial of Cock Robin. The sculptures of Sety date from the -fourteenth century before Christ; the knell of the robin can be traced -back no further than the middle of the eighteenth century A.D. Can the -space that lies between be bridged over, and the conception of the dead -robin be linked on to that of the dead hawk? However that may be, the -sight of the sculptured scene strengthened my resolve to place some of -the coincidences of comparative nursery lore before the gentle reader. -It lies with him to decide whether the wares are such as to make a -further instalment desirable. - -_23 September, 1906._ - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - - I. FIRST APPEARANCE OF RHYMES IN PRINT 1 - - II. EARLY REFERENCES 13 - - III. RHYMES AND POPULAR SONGS 23 - - IV. RHYMES IN TOY-BOOKS 36 - - V. RHYMES AND BALLADS 45 - - VI. RHYMES AND COUNTRY DANCES 57 - - VII. THE GAME OF "SALLY WATERS" 67 - - VIII. "THE LADY OF THE LAND" 78 - - IX. CUSTOM RHYMES 89 - - X. RIDDLE-RHYMES 104 - - XI. CUMULATIVE PIECES 115 - - XII. CHANTS OF NUMBERS 134 - - XIII. CHANTS OF THE CREED 143 - - XIV. HEATHEN CHANTS OF THE CREED 152 - - XV. SACRIFICIAL HUNTING 171 - - XVI. BIRD SACRIFICE 185 - - XVII. THE ROBIN AND THE WREN 200 - - XVIII. CONCLUDING REMARKS 215 - - LIST OF FOREIGN COLLECTIONS 221 - - ALPHABETICAL INDEX 223 - - - - - _... To my gaze the phantoms of the Past, - The cherished fictions of my boyhood, rise:_ - - * * * * * - - _The House that Jack built--and the Malt that lay - Within the House--the Rat that ate the Malt-- - The Cat, that in that sanguinary way - Punished the poor thing for its venial fault-- - The Worrier-Dog--the Cow with crumpled horn-- - And then--ah yes! and then--the Maiden all forlorn!_ - - _O Mrs. Gurton--(may I call thee Gammer?) - Thou more than mother to my infant mind! - I loved thee better than I loved my grammar-- - I used to wonder why the Mice were blind, - And who was gardener to Mistress Mary, - And what--I don't know still--was meant by "quite contrary."_ - - C. S. C. - - The dates that stand after the separate rhymes refer to the list of - English collections on p. 11; the capital letters in brackets refer - to the list of books on p. 221. - - - - -COMPARATIVE STUDIES IN NURSERY RHYMES - - - - -CHAPTER I - -FIRST APPEARANCE OF RHYMES IN PRINT - - -The study of folk-lore has given a new interest to much that seemed -insignificant and trivial. Among the unheeded possessions of the past -that have gained a fresh value are nursery rhymes. A nursery rhyme I -take to be a rhyme that was passed on by word of mouth and taught to -children before it was set down in writing and put into print. The use -of the term in this application goes back to the early part of the -nineteenth century. In 1834 John Gawler, afterwards Bellenden Ker, -published the first volume of his _Essay on the Archaiology of Popular -English Phrases and Nursery Rhymes_, a fanciful production. Prior to -this time nursery rhymes were usually spoken of as nursery songs. - -The interest in these "unappreciated trifles of the nursery," as -Rimbault called them, was aroused towards the close of the eighteenth -century. In a letter which Joseph Ritson wrote to his little nephew, he -mentioned the collection of rhymes known as _Mother Goose's Melody_, and -assured him that he also would set about collecting rhymes.[1] His -collection of rhymes is said, in the _Dictionary of National Biography_, -to have been published at Stockton in 1783 under the title _Gammer -Gurton's Garland_. A copy of an anonymous collection of rhymes published -by Christopher and Jennett at Stockton, which is called _Gammer Gurton's -Garland or the Nursery Parnassus_, is now at the British Museum, and is -designated as a "new edition with additions." It bears no name and no -date, but its contents, which consist of over seventy rhymes, agree with -parts 1 and 2 of a large collection of nursery rhymes, including over -one hundred and forty pieces, which were published in 1810 by the -publisher R. Triphook, of 37 St. James Street, London, who also issued -other collections made by Ritson. - - [1] _Letters of Joseph Ritson_, edited by his Nephew, 1833. 27 - April, 1781. - -The collection of rhymes known as _Mother Goose's Melody_, which aroused -the interest of Ritson, was probably the toy-book which was entered for -copyright in London on 28 December, 1780. Its title was _Mother Goose's -Melody or Sonnets for the Cradle_, and it was entered by John Carnan, -the stepson of the famous publisher John Newbery, who had succeeded to -the business in partnership with Francis Newbery.[2] Of this book no -copy is known to exist. Toy-books, owing to the careless way in which -they are handled, are amongst the most perishable literature. Many -toy-books are known to have been issued in hundreds of copies, yet of -some of these not a single copy can now be traced. - - [2] Welsh, Ch., _A Publisher of the Last Century_, 1885, p. 272. - -The name Mother Goose, its connection with nursery rhymes, and the date -of issue of _Mother Goose's Melody_, have been the subject of some -contention. Thomas Fleet, a well-known printer of Boston, Mass., who was -from Shropshire, is said to have issued a collection of nursery rhymes -under the following title, _Songs for the Nursery, or Mother Goose's -Melodies for Children_, printed by Thomas Fleet at his printing-house, -Pudding Lane, 1719, price two coppers.[3] The existence of this book at -the date mentioned has been both affirmed and denied.[4] John Fleet -Eliot, a great-grandson of the printer, accepted its existence, and in -1834 wrote with regard to it as follows: "It is well known to -antiquaries that more than a hundred years ago there was a small book in -circulation in London bearing the name of _Rhymes for the Nursery or -Lulla-Byes for Children_, which contained many of the identical pieces -of _Mother Goose's Melodies_ of the present day. It contained also other -pieces, more silly if possible, and some that the American types of the -present day would refuse to give off an impression. The cuts or -illustrations thereof were of the coarsest description." On the other -hand, the date of 1719 in connection with the expression "two coppers," -has been declared impossible. However this may be, no copy of the book -of Fleet or of its presumed prototype has been traced. - - [3] Appleton, _Cyclopædia of American Biography_, 1887: Fleet, - Thomas. - - [4] Whitmore, W. H., _The original Mother Goose's Melody_, 1892, p. - 40 ff. - -The name Mother Goose, which John Newbery and others associated with -nursery rhymes, may have been brought into England from France, where -_La Mère Oie_ was connected with the telling of fairy tales as far back -as 1650.[5] _La Mère Oie_ is probably a lineal descendant of _La Reine -Pédauque_, otherwise _Berthe au grand pied_, but there is the -possibility also of the relationship to _Fru Gode_ or _Fru Gosen_ of -German folk-lore. We first come across Mother Goose in England in -connection with the famous puppet-showman Robert Powell, who set up his -show in Bath and in Covent Garden, London, between 1709 and 1711. The -repertory of his plays, which were of his own composing, included -_Whittington and his Cat_, _The Children in the Wood_, _Friar Bacon and -Friar Bungay_, _Robin Hood and Little John_, _Mother Shipton_, and -_Mother Goose_.[6] A play or pantomime called _Mother Goose_ was still -popular at the beginning of the nineteenth century, for the actor -Grimaldi obtained his greatest success in it in 1806.[7] - - [5] Lang, A., _Perrault's Popular Tales_, 1888. Introduction, XXIV. - - [6] Collier, J. P., _Punch and Judy, citing "A Second Tale of a Tub - or the History of Robert Powell, the puppet-showman, 1715."_ - - [7] _Dictionary of National Biography_, Grimaldi. - -The name Gammer Gurton which Ritson chose for his collection of rhymes, -was traditional also. _Gammer Gurton's Needle_ is the name of a famous -old comedy which dates from about the year 1566. The name also appears -in connection with nursery rhymes in a little toy-book, issued by -Lumsden in Glasgow, which is called _Gammer Gurton's Garland of Nursery -Songs, and Toby Tickle's Collection of Riddles_. This is undated. It -occurs also in an insignificant little toy-book called _The Topbook of -all_, in connection with Nurse Lovechild, Jacky Nory, and Tommy Thumb. -This book is also undated, but contains the picture of a shilling of -1760 which is referred to as "a new shilling." - -The date at which nursery rhymes appeared in print yields one clue to -their currency at a given period. The oldest dated collection of rhymes -which I have seen bears the title _Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book_, vol. -II, "sold by M. Cooper according to Act of Parliament." It is printed -partly in red, partly in black, and on its last page bears the date -1744. A copy of this is at the British Museum. - -Next to this in date is a toy-book which is called _The Famous Tommy -Thumb's Little Story-Book_, printed and sold at the printing office in -Marlborough Street, 1771. A copy of this is in the library of Boston, -Mass. It contains nine nursery rhymes at the end, which have been -reprinted by Whitmore. - -Other collections of rhymes issued in America have been preserved which -are reprints of earlier English collections. Among these is _Tommy -Thumb's Song Book for all Little Masters and Misses_, by Nurse -Lovechild, which is dated 1788, and was printed by Isaiah Thomas at -Worcester, Mass. A copy is at the British Museum. - -Isaiah Thomas was in direct connection with England, where he procured, -in 1786, the first fount of music type that was carried to America. -Among many toy-books of his that are reprints from English publications, -he issued _Mother Goose's Melody, Sonnets for the Cradle_. A copy of -this book which is designated as the third Worcester edition, bears the -date 1799, and has been reprinted in facsimile by Whitmore. It was -probably identical with the collection of rhymes for which the firm of -Newberry received copyright in 1780, and which was mentioned by Ritson. -Other copies of _Mother Goose's Melody_, one bearing the watermark of -1803, and the other issued by the firm of John Marshall, which is -undated, are now at the Bodleian.[8] Thus the name of Mother Goose was -largely used in connection with nursery rhymes. - - [8] Whitmore, loc. cit., p. 6. - -The second half of the eighteenth century witnessed a great development -in toy-book literature. The leader of the movement was John Newbery, a -man of considerable attainments, who sold drugs and literature, and who -came from Reading to London in 1744, and settled in St. Paul's -Churchyard, where his establishment became a famous centre of the book -trade. Among those whom he had in his employ were Griffith Jones (d. -1786) and Oliver Goldsmith (d. 1774), whose versatility and delicate -humour gave a peculiar charm to the books for children which they helped -to produce. - -In London Newbery had a rival in John Marshall, whose shop in Aldermary -Churchyard was known already in 1787 as the _Great A, and Bouncing B Toy -Factory_. This name was derived from a current nursery rhyme on the -alphabet, which occurs as follows:-- - - Great A, little a, Bouncing B, - The cat's in the cupboard, and she can't see. (1744, p. 22.) - -A number of provincial publishers followed their example. Among them -were Thomas Saint, in Newcastle, who between 1771 and 1774 employed the -brothers Bewick; Kendrew, in York; Lumsden, in Glasgow; Drewey, in -Derby; Rusher, in Banbury; and others. The toy-books that were issued by -these firms have much likeness to one another, and are often illustrated -by the same cuts. Most of them are undated. Among the books issued by -Rusher were _Nursery Rhymes from the Royal Collections_, and _Nursery -Poems from the Ancient and Modern Poets_, which contain some familiar -rhymes in versions which differ from those found elsewhere. - -Besides these toy-book collections, there is a large edition of _Gammer -Gurton's Garland_, of the year 1810, which contains the collections of -1783 with considerable additions. In the year 1826, Chambers published -his _Popular Rhymes of Scotland_, which contained some fireside stories -and nursery rhymes, the number of which was considerably increased in -the enlarged edition of 1870. In the year 1842, Halliwell, under the -auspices of the Percy Society, issued the _Nursery Rhymes of England_, -which were reprinted in 1843, and again in an enlarged edition in 1846. -Three years later he supplemented this book by a collection of _Popular -Rhymes_ which contain many traditional game rhymes and many valuable -remarks and criticisms. - -These books, together with the rhymes of Gawler, and a collection of -_Old Nursery Rhymes with Tunes_, issued by Rimbault in 1864, exhaust -the collections of nursery rhymes which have a claim on the attention of -the student. Most of their contents were subsequently collected and -issued by the firm of Warne & Co., under the title _Mother Goose's -Nursery Rhymes, Tales and Jingles_, of which the issue of 1890 contains -over seven hundred pieces. In the list which follows, I have arranged -these various collections of rhymes in the order of their issue, with a -few modern collections that contain further rhymes. Of those which are -bracketed I have not succeeded in finding a copy. - -(1719. _Songs for the Nursery, or Mother Goose's Melodies._ Printed by -T. Fleet.) - -1744. _Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book._ - -_c._ 1760. _The Topbook of all._ - -(1771. _Tommy Thumb's Little Story Book._ The nine rhymes which this -contains are cited by Whitmore.) - -(1780. _Mother Goose's Melody_, for which copyright was taken by John -Carnan.) - -_c._ 1783. _Gammer Gurton's Garland._ - -1788. _Tommy Thumb's Song Book_, issued by Isaiah Thomas. - -(1797. _Infant Institutes_, cited by Halliwell and Rimbault.) - -1799. _Mother Goose's Melody._ Facsimile reprint by Whitmore. - -1810. _Gammer Gurton's Garland._ The enlarged edition, published by R. -Triphook, 37 St. James Street, London. - -1826. Chambers, _Popular Rhymes of Scotland_. - -1834-9. Ker, _Essays on the Archaiology of Nursery Rhymes_. - -1842-3. Halliwell, _The Nursery Rhymes of England_. - -1846. Halliwell, ditto. Enlarged and annotated edition. - -1849. Halliwell, _Popular Rhymes_. - -1864. Rimbault, _Old Nursery Rhymes with tunes_. - -1870. Chambers, _Popular Rhymes of Scotland_. Enlarged edition. - -1876. Thiselton Dyer, _British Popular Customs_. - -1890. _Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes, Tales and Jingles._ Issued by -Warne & Co. - -1892. Northall, G. F., _English Folk Rhymes_. - -1894. Gomme, A. B., _The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and -Ireland_. - -In the studies which follow, the rhymes cited have attached to them the -date of the collection in which they occur. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -EARLY REFERENCES - - -Independently of these collections of nursery rhymes, many rhymes are -cited in general literature. This yields a further clue to their -currency at a given period. Thus Rimbault describes a book called -_Infant Institutes, part the first, or a Nurserical Essay on the Poetry -Lyric and Allegorical of the Earliest Ages_, 1797, perhaps by B. N. -Turner, the friend of Dr. Johnson, which was intended to ridicule the -Shakespeare commentators (_N. & Q._, 5, 3, 441). In the course of his -argument, the author cites a number of nursery rhymes. - -Again, the poet Henry Carey, about the year 1720, ridiculed the odes -addressed to children by Ambrose Philips by likening these to a jumble -of nursery rhymes. In doing so he cited the rhymes, "Namby Pamby Jack a -Dandy," "London Bridge is broken down," "Liar Lickspit," "Jacky -Horner," "See-saw," and others, which nowadays are still included among -the ordinary stock of our rhymes. - -Again, in the year 1671, John Eachard, the divine, illustrated his -argument by quoting the alphabet rhyme "A was an apple pie," as far as -"G got it."[9] Instances such as these do not, however, carry us back -farther than the seventeenth century. - - [9] Eachard, _Observations, etc._, 1671, cited. Halliwell, _Popular - Rhymes_, 1849, p. 137. - -Another clue to the date of certain rhymes is afforded by their mention -of historical persons, in a manner which shows that the rhyme in this -form was current at the time when the individual whom they mention was -prominently before the eyes of the public. Halliwell recorded from oral -tradition the following verse:-- - - Doctor Sacheverel - Did very well, - But Jacky Dawbin - Gave him a warning. (1849, p. 12.) - -The verse refers to Dr. Sacheverel, the nonconformist minister who -preached violent sermons in St. Paul's, pointing at the Whig members as -false friends and real enemies of the Church. John Dolben (1662-1710) -called attention to them in the House of Commons, and they were declared -"malicious, scandalous, and seditious libels." - -Again there is the rhyme:-- - - Lucy Locket lost her pocket, - Kitty Fisher found it, - But the devil a penny was there in it, - Except the binding round it. (1849, p. 48.) - -This is said to preserve the names of two celebrated courtesans of the -reign of Charles II (1892, p. 330). - -The first name in the following rhyme is that of a famous border hero -who was hanged between 1529 and 1530:-- - - Johnny Armstrong killed a calf; - Peter Henderson got half; - Willy Wilkinson got the head,-- - Ring the bell, the calf is dead. (1890, p. 358.) - -Among the pieces collected by Halliwell, and told in cumulative form, -one begins and ends with the following line, which recurs at the end of -every verse:-- - - John Ball shot them all. - -Halliwell is of opinion that this may refer to the priest who took a -prominent part in the rebellion at the time of Richard II, and who was -hanged, drawn, and quartered in 1381. - -But a historical name does not necessarily indicate the date of a rhyme. -For a popular name is sometimes substituted for one that has fallen into -contempt or obscurity. Moreover, a name may originally have indicated a -person other than the one with whom it has come to be associated. - -A familiar nursery song printed in the collection of c. 1783, and extant -in several variants, is as follows:-- - - When good King Arthur rul'd the land, - He was a goodly king, - He stole three pecks of barley meal - To make a bag pudding. - A bag pudding the king did make - And stuff'd it well with plumbs, - And in it put great lumps of fat, - As big as my two thumbs. - The king and queen did eat thereof, - And noblemen beside, - And what they could not eat that night - The queen next morning fry'd. (_c._ 1783, p. 32.) - -Mr. Chappell, as cited by Halliwell, considered that this version is -not the correct one, but the one which begins:-- - - King Stephen was a worthy king - As ancient bards do sing.... - -The same story related in one verse only, and in simpler form, connects -it with Queen Elizabeth, in a version recovered in Berkshire. - - Our good Quane Bess, she maayde a pudden, - An stuffed un well o' plumes; - And in she put gurt dabs o' vat, - As big as my two thumbs. (1892, p. 289.) - -On the face of it the last variant appears to be the oldest. - -An interesting example of a change of name, and of the changing meaning -of a name, is afforded by the nursery song that is told of King Arthur, -and _mutatis mutandis_ of Old King Cole. The poem of King Arthur is as -follows:-- - - When Arthur first in Court began - To wear long hanging sleeves, - He entertained three serving men - And all of them were thieves. - - The first he was an Irishman, - The second was a Scot, - The third he was a Welshman, - And all were knaves, I wot. - - The Irishman loved usquebaugh, - The Scot loved ale called blue-cap. - The Welshman he loved toasted cheese, - And made his mouth like a mouse-trap. - - Usquebaugh burnt the Irishman, - The Scot was drowned in ale, - The Welshman had liked to be choked by a mouse, - But he pulled it out by the tail. - -In this form the piece is designated as a glee, and is printed in the -_New Lyric_ by Badcock of about 1720, which contains "the best songs now -in vogue." - -In the nursery collection of Halliwell of 1842 there is a parallel piece -to this which stands as follows:-- - - Old King Cole was a merry old soul - And a merry old soul was he; - Old King Cole he sat in his hole, - And he called for his fiddlers three. - - The first he was a miller, - The second he was a weaver, - The third he was a tailor, - And all were rogues together. - - The miller he stole corn, - The weaver he stole yarn, - The little tailor stole broadcloth - To keep these three rogues warm. - - The miller was drowned in his dam, - The weaver was hung in his loom, - The devil ran away with the little tailor - With the broadcloth under his arm. (1842, p. 3.) - -Chappell printed the words of the song of Old King Cole in several -variations, and pointed out that _The Pleasant Historie of Thomas of -Reading, or the Six Worthie Yeomen of the West_ of 1632, contains the -legend of one Cole, a cloth-maker of Reading at the time of King Henry -I, and that the name "became proverbial owing to the popularity of this -book." "There was some joke or conventional meaning among Elizabethan -dramatists," he says, "when they gave the name of Old Cole, which it is -now difficult to recover." Dekker in the _Satiromatrix_ of 1602, and -Marston in _The Malcontent_ of 1604, applied the name to a woman. On the -other hand, Ben Jonson in _Bartholomew Fair_ gave the name of Old Cole -to the sculler in the puppet-play _Hero and Leander_ which he there -introduces.[10] In face of this information, what becomes of the -identity of the supposed king? - - [10] Chappell, _Popular Music of the Olden Time_, 1893, p. 633. - -On the other hand a long ancestry is now claimed for certain characters -of nursery fame who seemed to have no special claim to attention. The -following verse appears in most collections of rhymes, and judging from -the illustration which accompanies it in the toy-books, it refers -sometimes to a boy and a girl, sometimes to two boys. - - Jack and Gill went up the hill - To fetch a bottle of water; - Jack fell down and broke his crown, - And Gill came tumbling after. (_c._ 1783, p. 51.) - - [Later collections have _Jill_ and _pail_.] - -This verse, as was first suggested by Baring-Gould,[11] preserves the -Scandinavian myth of the children Hjuki and Bill who were caught up by -Mani, the Moon, as they were taking water from the well Byrgir, and they -can be seen to this day in the moon carrying the bucket on the pole -between them. - - [11] Baring-Gould, _Curious Myths of the Middle Ages_, 1866, p. - 189. - -Another rhyme cited by Halliwell from _The New Mad Tom o'Bedlam_ -mentions Jack as being the Man in the Moon:-- - - The Man in the Moon drinks claret, - But he is a dull Jack-a-dandy; - Would he know a sheep's head from a carrot, - He should learn to drink cider or brandy. (1842, p. 33.) - -According to North German belief, a man stands in the moon pouring water -out of a pail (K., p. 304), which agrees with expressions such as "the -moon holds water." In a Norse mnemonic verse which dates from before the -twelfth century, we read, "the pail is called Saeg, the pole is called -Simul, Bil and Hiuk carry them" (C. P., I, 78). - -The view that Jack and Jill are mythological or heroic beings finds -corroboration in the expression "for Jak nor for Gille," which occurs in -the Townley Mysteries of about the year 1460.[12] By this declaration a -superhuman power is called in as witness. The same names are coupled -together also in an ancient divination rhyme used to decide in favour of -one of two courses of action. Two scraps of paper slightly moistened -were placed on the back of the hand, and the following invocation was -pronounced before and after breathing upon them to see which would fly -first. The sport was taught by Goldsmith to Miss Hawkins when a child, -as she related to Forster.[13] - - [12] Cited _Murray's Dictionary_: Jack. - - [13] Forster, J., _Life of Goldsmith_, II, p. 71. - - There were two blackbirds sat upon a hill - The one was named Jack, the other named Jill. - Fly away Jack! Fly away Jill! - Come again Jack! Come again Jill! (1810, p. 45.) - -The lines suggest the augur's action with regard to the flight of birds. -The same verse has been recited to me in the following variation:-- - - Peter and Paul sat on the wall, - Fly away Peter! Fly away Paul! - Come again Peter! Come again Paul! - -In this case the names of Christian apostles have been substituted for -heathen names which, at the time when the _names_ were changed, may -still have carried a suggestion of profanity. The following rhyme on -Jack and Gill occurs in an early nursery collection:-- - - I won't be my father's Jack, - I won't be my mother's Gill, - I will be the fiddler's wife - And have music when I will. - T'other little tune, t'other little tune, - Pr'ythee, love, play me, t'other little tune. (_c._ 1783, p. 25.) - - - - -CHAPTER III - -RHYMES AND POPULAR SONGS - - -On looking more closely at the contents of our nursery collections, we -find that a large proportion of so-called nursery rhymes are songs or -snatches of songs, which are preserved also as broadsides, or appeared -in printed form in early song-books. These songs or parts of songs were -included in nursery collections because they happened to be current at -the time when these collections were made, and later compilers -transferred into their own collections what they found in earlier ones. -Many songs are preserved in a number of variations, for popular songs -are in a continual state of transformation. Sometimes new words are -written to the old tune, and differ from those that have gone before in -all but the rhyming words at the end of the lines; sometimes new words -are introduced which entirely change the old meaning. Many variations -of songs are born of the moment, and would pass away with it, were it -not that they happen to be put into writing and thereby escape falling -into oblivion. - -In _Mother Goose's Melody_ stands a song in six verses which begins:-- - - There was a little man who woo'd a little maid, - And he said: "Little maid, will you wed, wed, wed? - I have little more to say, will you? Aye or nay? - For little said is soonest mended, ded, ded." (1799, p. 46.) - -Halliwell's collection includes only the first and the fourth verse of -this piece. (1842, p. 24.) - -In the estimation of Chappell this song was a very popular ballad, which -was sung to the tune of _I am the Duke of Norfolk_, or _Paul's -Steeple_.[14] It appears also in the _Fairing or Golden Toy for Children -of all Sizes and Denominations_ of 1781, where it is designated as "a -new love song by the poets of Great Britain." Its words form a variation -of the song called _The Dumb Maid_, which is extant in a broadside of -about 1678,[15] and which is also included in the early collection of -_Pills to Purge Melancholy_ of 1698-1719. The likeness between the -pieces depends on their peculiar repeat:-- - - There was a bonny blade had married a country maid, - And safely conducted her home, home, home; - She was neat in every part, and she pleased him to the heart, - But alas, and alas, she was dumb, dumb, dumb. - - [14] Chappell, loc. cit., p. 770. - - [15] _Roxburgh Collection of Ballads_, IV, p. 355. - -The same form of verse was used in another nursery song which stands as -follows:-- - - There was a little man, and he had a little gun, - And the ball was made of lead, lead, lead. - And he went to a brook to shoot at a duck, - And he hit her upon the head, head, head. - - Then he went home unto his wife Joan, - To bid her a good fire to make, make, make, - To roast the duck that swam in the brook, - And he would go fetch her the drake, drake, drake. - - (1744, p. 43; with repeat, 1810, p. 45.) - -Again, a song which appears in several early nursery collections is as -follows:-- - - There was an old woman toss'd in a blanket, - Seventeen times as high as the moon; - But where she was going no mortal could tell, - For under her arm she carried a broom. - - "Old woman, old woman, old woman," said I, - "Whither, ah whither, ah whither, so high?" - To sweep the cobwebs from the sky, - And I'll be with you by and by. (_c._ 1783, p. 22.) - -This song was a favourite with Goldsmith, who sang it to his friends at -dinner on the day when his play _The Good-natured Man_ was produced.[16] -It was one of the numerous songs that were sung to the tune of -Lilliburlero, which goes back at least to the time of Purcell.[17] A -Scottish version of this piece was printed by Chambers, which presents -some interesting variations:-- - - There was a wee wifie row't up in a blanket, - Nineteen times as hie as the moon; - And what did she there I canna declare, - For in her oxter she bure the sun. - "Wee wifie, wee wifie, wee wifie," quo' I, - "O what are ye doin' up there sae hie?" - "I'm blowin' the cauld cluds out o' the sky." - "Weel dune, weel dune, wee wifie!" quo' I. (1870, p. 34.) - - [16] Forster, _Life of Goldsmith_, II, 122. - - [17] Chappell, loc. cit., p. 569. - -I have come across a verse sung on Earl Grey and Lord Brougham, written -in 1835, which may have been in imitation of this song:-- - - Mother Bunch shall we visit the moon? - Come, mount on your broom, I'll stick on a spoon, - Then hey to go, we shall be there soon ... etc. - -Mother Bunch is a familiar character of British folk-lore, who figures -in old chapbooks as a keeper of old-world saws, and gives advice in -matters matrimonial. One of the earliest accounts of her is _Pasquill's -Jests with the Merriments of Mother Bunch_, extant in several editions, -which was reprinted by Hazlitt in _Old English Jestbooks_, 1864, Vol. -III. There are also _Mother Bunch's Closet newly broke open_, _Mother -Bunch's Golden Fortune Teller_, and _Mother Bunch's Fairy Tales_, -published by Harris in 1802. The name also occurs in _Mother Osborne's -Letter to the Protestant Dissenters rendered into English Metre by -Mother Bunch_, 1733. Mother Bunch, like Mother Goose and Mother Shipton, -may be a traditional name, for Mother Bunch has survived in connections -which suggest both the wise woman and the witch. - -Another old song which figures in early nursery collections is as -follows:-- - - What care I how black I be? - Twenty pounds will marry me; - If twenty won't, forty shall-- - I am my mother's bouncing girl. (_c._ 1783, p. 57.) - -Chappell mentions a song called, _What care I how fair she be_, which -goes back to before 1620.[18] The words of these songs seem to have -suggested a parody addressed to Zachary Macaulay, the father of the -historian, who pleaded the cause of the slaves. The Bill for the -abolition of slavery was passed in 1833, and the following quatrain was -sung with reference to it:-- - - What though now opposed I be? - Twenty peers will carry me. - If twenty won't, thirty will, - For I'm His Majesty's bouncing Bill. (_N. & Q._, 8, XII, 48.) - - [18] Chappell, loc. cit., p. 315. - -Another so-called nursery rhyme which is no more than a popular song has -been traced some way back in history by Halliwell, who gives it in two -variations:-- - - Three blind mice, see how they run! - They all run after the farmer's wife, - Who cut off their tails with a carving knife, - Did you ever see such fools in your life-- - Three blind mice! (1846, p. 5.) - -In _Deuteromalia_ of 1609 this stands as follows:-- - - Three blind mice, three blind mice! - Dame Julian, the miller and his merry old wife - She scrapte the tripe, take thow the knife. - -Among the popular songs which have found their way into nursery -collections is the one known as _A Frog he would a wooing go_, the -subject of which is old. Already in 1549 the shepherds of Scotland sang -a song called, _The Frog cam to the Myldur_. In the year 1580 there was -licensed, _A most strange Wedding of the Frog and the Mouse_, as appears -from the books of the Stationers' Company cited by Warton.[19] The song -has been preserved in many variations with a variety of burdens. These -burdens sound like nonsense, but in some cases the same words appear -elsewhere in a different application, which shows that they were not -originally unmeaning. - - [19] Warton, _History of English Poetry_, 1840, III, 360. - -The oldest known version of the song begins:-- - - It was a frog in the well, _humble dum, humble dum_, - And the mouse in the mill, _tweedle tweedle twino_.[20] - - [20] Chappell, loc. cit., p. 88. - -The expression _humble dum_ occurs in other songs and seems to indicate -triumph; the word _tweedle_ represents the sound made by the pipes. - -A Scottish variation of the song begins:-- - - There lived a Puddy in a well, _Cuddy alone, Cuddy alone_, - There lived a Puddy in a well, _Cuddy alone and I_.[21] - - [21] Sharpe, Ch. K., _Ballad Book_, 1824, p. 87. - -In the nursery collection of _c._ 1783 the song begins:-- - - There was a frog liv'd in a well, _Kitty alone, Kitty alone_, - There was a frog liv'd in a well. - There was a frog liv'd in a well, _Kitty alone and I_. - And a farce mouse in a mill, - _Cock me cary, Kitty alone, Kitty alone and I_. (_c._ 1783, p. 4.) - -The origin and meaning of this burden remains obscure. - -The antiquity and the wide popularity of these verses are further shown -by a song written in imitation of it, called _A Ditty on a High Amore at -St. James_, and set to a popular tune, which dates from before 1714. It -is in verse, and begins:-- - - Great Lord Frog and Lady Mouse, _Crackledom hee, crackledom ho_, - Dwelling near St. James' house, _Cocki mi chari chi_; - Rode to make his court one day, - In the merry month of May, - When the sun shone bright and gay, _twiddle come, tweedle dee_.[22] - - [22] Chappell, loc. cit., p. 561. - -In the accepted nursery version the song begins:-- - - A frog he would a wooing ride, _heigho, says Rowley_, - Whether his mother would let him or no, - _With a roly-poly, gammon and spinach, - Heigho, says Anthony Rowley_. - -This burden is said by a correspondent of _Notes and Queries_ to have -been first inserted in the old song as a burden by Liston. His song, -entitled _The Love-sick Frog_, with an original tune by C. E. H., Esq. -(perhaps Charles Edward Horn), and an accompaniment by Thomas Cook, was -published by Goulding & Co., Soho Square, in the early part of the -nineteenth century (_N. & Q._, I, 458). The burden has been traced back -to the _jeu d'esprit_ of 1809 on the installation of Lord Grenville as -Chancellor of Oxford, which another correspondent quotes from memory:-- - - Mister Chinnery then an M. A. of great parts, - Sang the praises of Chancellor Grenville. - Oh! He pleased all the ladies and tickled their hearts, - But then we all know he's a Master of Arts. - _With a rowly, powly, gammon and spinach, - Heigh ho! says Rowley._ (_N. & Q._, 11, 27.) - -Another variation of the song of _The Frog and the Mouse_ of about 1800 -begins:-- - - There was a frog lived in a well, _heigho, crowdie_! - And a merry mouse in a mill, _with a howdie, crowdie_, etc. - - (_N. & Q._, 11, 110.) - -This expression, _heigho, crowdie_, contains a call to the crowd to -strike up. The crowd is the oldest kind of British fiddle, which had no -neck and only three strings. It is mentioned as a British instrument -already by the low Latin poet Fortunatus towards the close of the sixth -century: "Chrotta Britannia canat." The instrument is well known to this -day in Wales as the _crwth_. - -The word crowdy occurs also as a verb in one of the numerous nursery -rhymes referring to scenes of revelry, at which folk-humour pictured the -cat making music:-- - - Come dance a jig to my granny's pig, - With a rowdy, rowdy, dowdy; - Come dance a jig to my granny's pig, - And pussy cat shall crowdy. (1846, p. 141.) - -This verse and a number of others go back to the festivities that were -connected with Twelfth Night. Some of them preserve expressions in the -form of burdens which have no apparent sense; in other rhymes the same -expressions have the force of a definite meaning. Probably the verses in -which the words retain a meaning have the greater claim to antiquity. - -Thus among the black-letter ballads is a song[23] which is found also in -the nursery collection of 1810 under the designation _The Lady's Song in -Leap Year_. - - [23] _Roxburgh Collection_, IV, 433. - - Roses are red, _diddle diddle_, lavender's blue, - If you will have me, _diddle diddle_, I will have you. - Lillies are white, _diddle diddle_, rosemary's green, - When you are king, _diddle, diddle_, I will be queen. - Call up your men, _diddle, diddle_, set them to work, - Some to the plough, _diddle, diddle_, some to the cart. - Some to make hay, _diddle, diddle_, some to cut corn, - While you and I, _diddle, diddle_, keep the bed warm. - - (1810, p. 46.) - -Halliwell cites this song in a form in which the words are put into the -lips of the king, and associates it with the amusements of Twelfth -Night:-- - - Lavender blue, _fiddle faddle_, lavender green. - When I am king, _fiddle faddle_, you shall be queen, etc. - - (1849, p. 237.) - -The expression _diddle diddle_ according to Murray's Dictionary means to -make music without the utterance of words, while _fiddle faddle_ is said -to indicate nonsense, and to fiddle is to fuss. But both words seem to -go back to the association of dancing, as is suggested by the songs on -Twelfth Night, or by the following nursery rhyme which refers to the -same celebration. - - A cat came fiddling out of the barn, - With a pair of bagpipes under her arm, - She could sing nothing but fiddle cum fee, - The mouse has married the humble bee; - Pipe, cat, dance, mouse; - We'll have a wedding in our good house. (1842, p. 102.) - -The following variation of this verse occurs in the _Nursery Songs_ -published by Rusher:-- - - A cat came fiddling out of a barn, - With a pair of bagpipes under her arm, - She sang nothing but fiddle-de-dee, - Worried a mouse and a humble bee. - Puss began purring, mouse ran away, - And off the bee flew with a wild huzza! - -In both cases the cat was fiddling, that is moving to instrumental music -without the utterance of words, and called upon the others to do so -while she played the pipes. Her association with an actual fiddle, -however, is preserved in the following rhyme which I cite in two of its -numerous variations:-- - - Sing hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, - The cow jump'd over the moon! - The little dog laughed to see such sport, - And the dish lick't up the spoon. (1797, cited by Rimbault.) - - Sing hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, - The cow jumped over the moon; - The little dog laughed to see such craft, - And the dish ran away with the spoon. (_c._ 1783, p. 27.) - -This rhyme also refers to the revelry which accompanied a feast, -probably the one of Twelfth Night also. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -RHYMES IN TOY-BOOKS - - -Many of our longer nursery pieces first appeared in print in the -diminutive toy-books already described, which represent so curious a -development in the literature of the eighteenth century. These books -were sometimes hawked about in one or more sheets, which were afterwards -folded so as to form a booklet of sixteen, thirty-two, or sixty-four -pages. Others were issued sewn and bound in brilliant covers, at a cost -of as much as a shilling or eighteen pence. Usually each page contained -one verse which was illustrated by an appropriate cut. In the toy-books -which tell a consecutive story, the number of verses of the several -pieces seem to have been curtailed or enlarged in order to fit the -required size of the book. - -It is in these toy-books that we first come across famous nursery -pieces such as the _Alphabet_ which begins:-- - - A was an Archer, who shot at a frog, - B was a blind man, and led by a dog ... etc. - -This first appeared in _A Little Book for Little Children_ by T. W., -sold at the Ring in Little Britain. It contains a portrait of Queen -Anne, and probably goes back to the early part of the eighteenth -century. - -_The Topbook of all_, already mentioned, which is of about 1760, -contains the oldest version that I have come across of the words used in -playing _The Gaping, Wide-mouthed, Waddling Frog_, each verse of which -is illustrated by a rough cut. Again, _The Tragic Death of A, Apple -Pie_, which, as mentioned above, was cited as far back as 1671, forms -the contents of a toy-book issued by J. Evans about the year 1791 at the -price of a farthing. _The Death and Burial of Cock Robin_ fills a -toy-book which was published by J. Marshall, London, and again by Rusher -at Banbury; both editions are undated. Again _The Courtship, Marriage, -and Picnic Dinner of Cock Robin and Jenny Wren_ form the contents of a -toy-book dated 1810 and published by Harris, and _The Life and Death of -Jenny Wren_ appeared in a toy-book dated 1813, issued by J. Evans. - -Another famous toy-book contained _The Comic Adventures of Old Mother -Hubbard and her Dog_. This story was first issued in toy-book form by J. -Harris, "successor to E. Newbery at the corner of St. Paul's -Churchyard," probably at the beginning of 1806, at the cost of eighteen -pence. A copy of the second edition, which mentions the date 1 May, -1806, is at the British Museum. It contains the words "to T. B. Esquire, -M.P. county of XX, at whose suggestion and at whose house these notable -sketches were first designed, this volume is with all suitable deference -dedicated by his humble servant S. C. M." The coffin which is -represented in one of the cuts in the book bears the initials S. C. M., -and the date 1804. This inscribing of the author's initials on a coffin -is quite in keeping with the tone of toy-book literature. - -In October, 1805, J. Harris had published _Whimsical Incidents, or the -Power of Music, a poetic tale by a near relation of Old Mother -Hubbard_, which has little to recommend it, and contains nothing on the -dog. On its first page stands a verse which figures independently as a -nursery rhyme in some later collections:-- - - The cat was asleep by the side of the fire, - Her mistress snor'd loud as a pig, - When Jack took the fiddle by Jenny's desire, - And struck up a bit of a jig. (1810, p. 33.) - -J. Harris also published in March, 1806, _Pug's Visit, or the Disasters -of Mr. Punch_, a sequel to the _Comic Adventures of Mother Hubbard and -her Dog_. This has a dedication framed in the same style, "To P. A. -Esquire ... by his humble servant W. F." - -The success of the _Comic Adventures of Mother Hubbard and her Dog_ was -instantaneous and lasting. In _The Courtship of Jenny Wren_, which is -dated 1810, while its cuts bear the date 1806, Parson Rook is -represented carrying "Mother Hubbard's book," and a foot-note is added -to the effect that "upwards of ten thousand copies of this celebrated -work have been distributed in various parts of the country in a few -months." The _Comic Adventures_ were read all over London and in the -provinces, both in the original and in pirated editions, of which I have -seen copies issued by J. Evans of Long Lane, West Smithfield; by W. S. -Johnson of 60 St. Martin's Lane; by J. Marshall of Aldermary Churchyard; -and by others. A very diminutive toy-book containing verses of the tale -of Mother Hubbard, illustrated with rough cuts, is on view at South -Kensington Museum among the exhibits of A. Pearson. I do not know its -publisher. - -The _Comic Adventures of Mother Hubbard_ are usually told in fourteen -verses, which refer to the dame's going to the cupboard, to her going -for bread, for a coffin, for tripe, beer, wine, fruit, a coat, a hat, a -wig, shoes, hose, and linen. The story ends:-- - - The dame made a curtsey, the dog made a bow, - The dame said, "Your servant," the dog said "Bow-wow." - -But some editions have an additional rhyme on the dame's going for fish; -and the edition at South Kensington has the verse:-- - - Old Mother Hubbard sat down in a chair, - And danced her dog to a delicate air; - She went to the garden to buy him a pippin, - When she came back the dog was skipping. - -In the edition of Rusher, instead of "the dog made a bow," we read "Prin -and Puss made a bow." - -In Halliwell's estimation the tale of Mother Hubbard and her dog is of -some antiquity, "were we merely to judge," he says, "of the rhyme of -laughing to coffin in the third verse." - - She went to the undertaker's to buy him a coffin, - When she came back the poor dog was laughing. - -But it seems possible also that the author of the poem had running in -his mind a verse containing this rhyme, which occurs already in the -_Infant Institutes_ of 1797, where it stands as follows:-- - - There was a little old woman and she liv'd in a shoe, - She had so many children, she didn't know what to do. - She crumm'd 'em some porridge without any bread - And she borrow'd a beetle, and she knock'd 'em all o' th' head. - Then out went the old woman to bespeak 'em a coffin - And when she came back she found 'em all a-loffing. - -This piece contains curious mythological allusions, as we shall see -later. - -It may be added that the nursery collection of 1810 (p. 37) contains the -first verse only of Mother Hubbard, which favours the view expressed by -Halliwell, that the compiler of the famous book did not invent the -subject nor the metre of his piece, but wrote additional verses to an -older story. - -The association of Mother Hubbard and the dog may be relatively new, but -the name Mother Hubbard itself has some claim to antiquity. For a -political satire by Edmund Spenser was called _Prosopopeia or Mother -Hubberd's Tale_. It was a youthful effort of the poet, and was soon -forgotten. In this piece "the good old woman was height Mother Hubberd -who did far surpass the rest in honest mirth," and who related the fable -of the fox and the ape. Also Thomas Middleton in 1604 published _Father -Hubburd's Tale, or the Ant and the Nightingale_, in the introduction to -which he addressed the reader as follows:--"Why I call these Father -Hubburd's tales, is not to have them called in again as the Tale of -Mother Hubburd. The world would shew little judgment in that i' faith; -and I should say then _plena stultorum omnia_; for I entreat (_i.e._ -treat) here neither of rugged (_i.e._ ragged) bears or apes, no, nor the -lamentable downfall of the old wife's platters--I deal with no such -metal ... etc." - -We do not know that Spenser's tale was "called in again," nor does it -mention ragged bears and platters. Middleton must therefore be referring -to a different production to which obstruction was offered by the public -authorities. In any case the name of Mother Hubburd, or Hubbard, was -familiar long before the publication of the story of the dame and her -dog. - -Father Hubberd, who is mentioned by Middleton, figures in nursery lore -also. A rhyme is cited which mentions him in connection with the -traditional cupboard:-- - - What's in the cupboard? says Mr Hubbard; - A knuckle of veal, says Mr Beal; - Is that all? says Mr Ball; - And enough too, says Mr Glue; - And away they all flew. (_N. & Q._, 7, IV, 166.) - -Were they figured as cats? - -The form of verse of this piece on Father Hubbard reproduces the chiming -of bells. The same form of verse is used also in the following:-- - - "Fire! Fire!" says the town-crier; - "Where, where?" says Goody Blair; - "Down the town," said Goody Brown; - "I'll go and see't," said Goody Fleet, - "So will I," said Goody Fry. (1890, p. 315.) - -The old play of _Ralph Roister Doister_, written about the year 1550, -ends with a "peele of bells rung by the parish clerk," which is in the -same form of verse:-- - - First bell: When dyed he, when dyed he? - Second bell: We have him! We have him! - Third bell: Roister doister, Roister doister. - Fourth bell: He cometh, he cometh. - Great bell: Our owne, our owne. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -RHYMES AND BALLADS - - -Various nursery pieces deal with material which forms the subject of -romantic ballads also. Romantic ballads, like popular songs, are -preserved in a number of variations, for they were sung again and again -to suit the modified taste of succeeding ages. Many romantic ballads -retain much that is pre-Christian in disposition and sentiment. The -finest collection of romantic ballads during recent times was made by -Child,[24] who included the fireside versions of ballads that have come -down to us through nursery literature. Child puts forward the opinion -that where we are in possession of a romantic and a fireside version of -the same ballad, the latter is a late and degraded survival. But this -hardly seems probable, considering that the nursery version of the tale -is usually simpler in form, and often consists of dialogue only. - - [24] Child, F. G., _English and Scottish Popular Ballads_ 1894. - -In the estimation of Gregory Smith, the oldest extant examples of -romantic ballads "do not date further back than the second and third -quarter of the fifteenth century" (that is between 1425 and 1475), -"since the way in which the incidents in these are presented, reflects -the taste of that age."[25] This applies to romantic ballads that are -highly complex in form. The fireside version of the same story may have -flowed from the same source. The question hangs together with that of -the origin of the ballad, which may have arisen in connection with -dancing and singing, but the subject needs investigation. - - [25] Smith, G., _The Transition Period_, 1897, p. 180, in - Saintsbury, _Periods of European Literature_. - -Among our famous early ballads is that of _The Elfin Knight_, the oldest -printed copy of which is of 1670. - -It begins as follows:-- - - My plaid awa', my plaid awa', - And o'er the hill and far awa', - And far awa' to Norrowa, - My plaid shall not be blown awa'. - The Elfin Knight sits on yon hill, - Ba, ba, ba, lilli ba, - He blaws his horn both loud and shrill, - The wind has blawn my plaid awa', - He blows it east, he blows it west, - He blows it where he liketh best.[26] - - [26] Child, loc. cit., I, 6 ff. - -The ballad goes on to describe how problems were bandied between the -Elfin Knight and a lady. The one on whom an impossible task was imposed -stood acquitted if he devised a task of no less difficulty, which must -first be performed by his opponent. Such flytings go far back in -literature. In this case the Elfin Knight staked his plaid, that is his -life, on receiving the favour of the lady, and he propounded to her -three problems, viz. of making a sack without a seam, of washing it in a -well without water, and of hanging it to dry on a tree that never -blossomed. In reply, she claimed that he should plough an acre of land -with a ram's horn, that he should sow it with a peppercorn, and that he -should reap it with a sickle of leather. The problems perhaps had a -recondite meaning, and the ballad-monger probably found them ready to -hand. For Child cites a version of the ballad in which the same flyting -took place between a woman and "the auld, auld man," who threatened to -take her as his own, and who turned out to be Death. The idea of a wooer -staking his life on winning a lady is less primitive than that of Death -securing a victim. - -The same tasks without their romantic setting are preserved in the form -of a simple dialogue, in the nursery collections of _c._ 1783 and 1810. -In this case also it is the question of a wooer. - - _Man speaks._ - - Can you make me a cambrick shirt, - Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, - Without any seam or needlework? - And you shall be a true lover of mine. - Can you wash it in yonder well? Parsley, etc., - Where never spring water or rain ever fell. - Can you dry it on yonder thorn, - Which never bore blossom since Adam was born? - - _Maiden speaks._ - - Now you have asked me questions three, - I hope you will answer as many for me. - Can you find me an acre of land, - Between the salt water and the sea sand? - Can you plow it with a ram's horn, - And sow it all over with peppercorn? - Can you reap it with a sickle of leather, - And bind it up with a peacock's feather? - - When you have done and finished your work, - Then come to me for your cambrick shirt. (_c._ 1783, p. 10.) - -On the face of it, it hardly seems likely that this version is descended -from the romantic ballad. - -The tasks that are here imposed on the man are set also in the form of a -boast in a nursery song, in which they have so entirely lost their -meaning as to represent a string of impossibilities. - - My father left me three acres of land, - Sing sing, sing sing, - My father left me three acres of land, - Sing holly, go whistle and sing. - I ploughed it with a ram's horn, - And sowed it with one pepper corn. - I harrowed it with a bramble bush, - And reaped it with a little pen knife. - I got the mice to carry it to the mill, - And thrashed it with a goose's quill. - I got the cat to carry it to the mill, - The miller swore he would have her paw, - And the cat she swore she would scratch his face. - - (_N. & Q._, VII. 8.) - -Another nursery piece is recorded by Halliwell which, in simple form -relates concerning _Billy my son_ the sequence of events which underlies -the famous romantic ballad of Lord Randal.[27] The story is current also -in Scotland relating to _The Croodin Doo_ (1870, p. 51); it was told -also some eighty years ago in Lincolnshire, of _King Henry my son_ (_N. -& Q._, 8, VI, 427). The romantic ballad in five verses, as told of -Lairde Rowlande, relates how he came from the woods weary with hunting -and expecting death. He had been at his true love's, where he ate of the -food which poisoned his warden and his dogs. In the nursery version the -tragedy is told in the following simple form:-- - - Where have you been to-day, Billy my son? - Where have you been to-day, my only man?-- - I've been a wooing, mother; make my bed soon, - For I'm sick at heart, and fain would lie down. - - What have you ate to-day, Billy my son? - What have you ate to-day, my only man?-- - I've eat eel pie, mother; make my bed soon, - For I am sick at heart, and shall die before noon. (1849, p. 259.) - - [27] _Ibid._, I, 157: Lord Randal. - -Other nursery pieces deal with Tommy Linn, the Tam Linn of romance, who -is the hero of many famous romantic ballads. The name of Tam Linn goes -some way back in history. For the _Tayl of young Tamlene_, according to -Vedderburn's _Complaint of Scotland_, of 1549, was told among a company -of shepherds, and the name appears also as that of a dance, _A Ballett -of Thomalyn_, as far back as 1558.[28] - - [28] _Ibid._, I, 256: Tamlene. - -According to the romantic ballads, Tam Linn fell under the influence of -the fairies through sleeping under an apple tree, and they threatened to -take him back as their own on Hallowe'en, when they rode abroad once in -seven years and had the right to claim their due. Tam Linn told the -woman who loved him that she must hold him fast, whatever shape he -assumed owing to the enchantment of the witches, and that she must cast -him into water as soon as he assumed the shape of a _gled_. He would -then be restored to human form. - -Tam Linn of romance figures in nursery lore as Tommy Linn. His exploits -were printed by Halliwell in one of the numerous versions that are -current in the north. In these pieces Tommy Linn has only this in common -with Tam Linn of romance, that he too is ready with a suggestion -whatever mishap befalls. - - Tommy Linn is a Scotchman born, - His head is bald and his beard is shorn; - He has a cap made of a hare skin, - An alderman is Tommy Linn. - - Tommy Linn has no boots to put on, - But two calves' skins and the hair it was on. - They are open at the side and the water goes in, - Unwholesome boots, says Tommy Linn. - - Tommy Linn had no bridle to put on, - But two mouse's tails that he put on. - Tommy Linn had no saddle to put on, - But two urchins' skins and them he put on. - - Tommy Linn's daughter sat on the stair, - O dear father, gin I be not fair? - The stairs they broke and she fell in, - You're fair enough now, says Tommy Linn. - - Tommy Linn had no watch to put on, - So he scooped out a turnip to make himself one; - He caught a cricket and put it within, - It's my own ticker, says Tommy Linn. - - Tommy Linn, his wife, and wife's mother, - They all fell into the fire together; - Oh, said the topmost, I've got a hot skin, - It's hotter below, says Tommy Linn. (1849, p. 271.) - -Several short nursery rhymes are taken from this, or other versions of -this poem. Among the pieces printed by Chambers we read-- - - Tam o' the Lin and his bairns, - Fell i' the fire in others' arms! - Oh, quo' the bunemost, I ha'e a hot skin!! - It's hotter below, quo' Tam o' the Lin!!! (1870, p. 33.) - -Sir Walter Scott in _Redgauntlet_ cites a catch on _Sir Thom o' Lyne_. - -In some nursery collections the adventures of Tommy Lin, the Scotchman, -are appropriated to Bryan O'Lin, the Irishman. - - Bryan O'Lin had no watch to put on, - So he scooped out a turnip to make himself one: - He caught a cricket and put it within, - And called it a ticker, did Bryan O'Lin. - - Bryan O'Lin had no breeches to wear, - So he got a sheepskin to make him a pair: - With the skinny side out and the woolly side in, - Oh! how nice and warm, cried Bryan O'Lin. (1842, p. 212.) - -Many nursery rhymes which dwell on cats are formed on the model of these -verses. A rhyme that comes from America is as follows:-- - - Kit and Kitterit and Kitterit's mother, - All went over the bridge together. - The bridge broke down, they all fell in, - "Good luck to you," says Tom Bolin. - -A modern collection of rhymes (1873, p. 136) gives this as follows:-- - - The two grey cats and the grey kits' mother, - All went over the bridge together; - The bridge broke down, they all fell in, - May the rats go with you, sings Tom Bowlin. - -The association of cats with Tommy Linn reappears in the rhyme in which -Tommy, who in the romantic ballad begged immersion for himself, -practised immersion on a cat. Perhaps the cat was figured as a witch, -who, being suspected, was cast into the water in order to prove her -witchcraft. - - Ding dong bell, poor pussy has fall'n i' th' well, - Who threw her in? Little Tom O' Linne, - What a naughty boy was that - To drown poor pussy cat, - That never did any harm, - But catch'd a mouse i' th' barn. (1797, cited by Rimbault.) - -Other variations of this rhyme mention Johnny Green (_c._ 1783, p. 23) -and Tommy Quin (Rusher), which, considering the relative antiquity of -Tommy Linn, are obvious degradations of this name. - -The rhyme in some collections is quoted in an enlarged form:-- - - Who put her in? Little Tommy Lin, - Who pulled her out? Little Tommy [_or_ Dickey] Stout. - -I have heard also:-- - - Who put her in? Little Tommy Thin. - Who pulled her out? Little Tommy Stout. - -Stout is perhaps a traditional name. For it occurs in the nursery piece -on the old woman who went to sleep out of doors and forgot her identity. -I know no earlier version of this piece in English than the one recorded -by Rimbault which begins: - - There was a little woman as I've heard tell, - Who went to market her eggs for to sell. - -It further relates how she went to sleep out of doors, how the man Stout -"cut her petticoats round about," and how on waking she did not know -herself, and decided to go home and find out if her dog knew her (1864, -p. 6). But the story is an old one, for we come across it in Grimm's -_Fairy Tales_, where it forms a sequel to "Kluge Else," (No. 35). In -this the part of Stout is taken by the woman's husband, who hung her -skirt about with bells, and it is further stated that the woman fell -asleep when she was cutting corn. The same story in a more interesting -form was recovered in Norway. Here we read that the woman fell asleep -while she was cutting hemp, which explains why her mind failed her. For -hemp newly cut has strongly narcotic properties. It was probably the -herb which the witches smoked in their diminutive clay-pipes in -pre-Christian times. Presumably on account of these narcotic properties -sowing and cutting of hemp were associated all over Europe with peculiar -dances, such as _Enfille aiguille_, our _Thread-the-Needle_. Its -connection with heathen rites of divination is suggested by the -well-known rhyme:-- - - Hemp-seed I set, hemp-seed I sow, - The young man whom I love, - Come after me and mow. (1890, p. 414.) - -In this form the rhyme is also cited in _Mother Bunch's Closet newly -broke open_, as a charm to secure the vision of one's future husband. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -RHYMES AND COUNTRY DANCES - - -Many true nursery rhymes go back to traditional dancing and singing -games which are now relegated to the playground, but which were danced -by rustics within the memory of man, and which are heirs to the choral -dances of our heathen forefathers. For dancing in its origin was no idle -and unmeaning pastime. Dances were undertaken for serious purposes, such -as warding off evil and promoting agricultural growth, conceptions which -hang closely together. These dances formed part of festivities that took -place at certain times of the year. They were accompanied by expressive -words, and by actions which were suited to the words, and which gave the -dance a dramatic character. Our carol is related to the _caraula_ that -was prohibited among heathen customs by Bishop Eligius of Noyon (d. -659), in the north of France in the seventh century, and has the same -origin as the _Choreia_ of the Greeks, the _reihe_ or _reigen_ of -Germany, the _karol_ of Brittany, and the _caraula_ of eastern -Switzerland. In course of time the religious significance of the choral -dance was lost and its practice survived as a sport. At a later stage -still, it became a pastime of children and a diversion of the ballroom. - -Among the dances that can be traced back through several stages, is the -one which in its latest survival is known as the _Cotillon_. This is -mentioned in England as far back as the year 1766. Burns in _Tam o' -Shanter_ speaks of it as "brand new from France." The peculiar features -of the Cotillon as it is danced nowadays, include free choice of -partners, the women being at liberty in one figure to choose the men, -the drawing into the dance of the assembled company, and the presence of -a cushion which is put to a variety of uses. The Cotillon usually -concludes the ball. - -In an earlier form the Cotillon is represented by the dance which was -known in the seventeenth century as _Joan Saunderson or the Cushion -Dance_. The way of dancing _Joan Saunderson_ is described in _The -Dauncing Master, a collection of dances with tunes for young people_, -published by H. Playford. Of this the first volume was issued in 1650, -which was enlarged in subsequent editions, when further volumes were -added. _The Dauncing Master_ of Playford shows how traditional country -dances were appropriated to the ballroom, for many of these dance tunes, -such as _Mulberry Bush_, and _Green Sleeves_, correspond with the names -of traditional dancing and singing games. - -In _Joan Saunderson or the Cushion Dance_ as described by Playford,[29] -a cushion and a drinking-horn were brought in by two dancers to the -sound of a fiddle. The cushion-bearer locked the door and pocketed the -key, and danced round the room alone. Then he exchanged words with the -fiddler as to the need of finding a maid and pressing her into the -dance. The name Joan Saunderson being proposed, the cushion-bearer -placed the cushion before the woman of his choice, and knelt upon it. -She did the same, and drank from the horn. They kissed and danced -together. The same ceremony was then gone through by the girl, who, when -the name John Saunderson was proposed, approached the man of her choice -bearing the cushion, the first dancer accompanying her. The ceremony was -repeated again and again, alternately by man and woman, and as each -dancer chose a partner, the number of those following the cushion-bearer -increased. Finally the whole assembled company were drawn into the ring. - - [29] Playford, _The Dauncing Master_, 1686, p. 206. - -A scene in _Joan Saunderson_ is said to be represented in a Dutch -engraving of the year 1624 (1876, p. 254). _Joan Saunderson_ is still -danced in different parts of the country under the same or some similar -name. In Derbyshire it is known as the _Cushion Dance_, and those who -are drawn into the ring are addressed as John Sanders and Jane Sanders. -In the Lowlands the dance is known as _Babbity Bowster_, bowster -standing for bolster; in the north it is the _Whishin Dance_, whishin -standing for cushion (1894, I, pp. 9, 87). The Cushion Dance was the -last dance that was danced at a wedding,[30] and at Northampton it came -at the conclusion of the May-Day festival (1876, p. 253). - - [30] Murray's Dictionary: _Cushion Dance_. - -In the Cotillon of the ballroom, the ring finally breaks up and the -company dances in couples; the Cushion Dance leads up to the withdrawal -of the married pair, and concludes with a romp. A later edition of _The -Dauncing Master_ (1698, p. 7), perhaps with a view to forestalling this, -adds a sequel to the dance, according to which the game, after it had -been wound, was unwound, that is, each dancer in turn bade farewell to -his partner, and after doing so left the room. - -The points of likeness between the Cotillon and the Cushion Dance are -such as to favour the belief that they are connected. The free choice of -partners, the presence of the cushion, the drawing in of the whole -assembled company, and the fact that the dance terminates the ball, are -peculiar to them both. The Cushion Dance being the older sport, -preserves the association with weddings and with the May-Day festival, -which at one time was the occasion for mating and marriage. - -The associations with mating and marriage are preserved also in a -traditional game that is still played throughout the greater part of -England, which is generally known as _Sally Waters_. The verses recited -in playing it render it probable that the Cushion Dance is a later -development of the game known as _Sally Waters_. - -In playing _Sally Waters_ the players stand in a ring, a boy and a girl -alternately choose a partner and seal the bond by joining hands, or by -kneeling, or by a kiss. The verses recited in playing the game were -first recorded by Halliwell (1849, p. 133). Forty-nine further -variations, used in different parts of the kingdom in playing the game, -have been printed by Mrs. Gomme, who classed this among marriage games, -(1894, II, 461). In the book of Playford the Cushion Dance is called -also _Joan Saunderson_, and those who are pressed into the dance are -designated as Joan Saunderson and John Saunderson, or as Jane Sanders -and John Sanders. In playing the game of _Sally Waters_ similar names -are used. Thus the children in Penzance stand in a ring and sing the -following verse:-- - - Little Sally Sander sitting in the Sander, - Weeping and crying for her young man. (1894, No. 26.) - -In playing the game in Liverpool they begin:-- - - Little Polly Sanders sits on the sand, etc. (_Ibid._, No. 42.) - -The verses used in Yorkshire begin:-- - - Little Alice Sander sat upon a cinder, etc. (_Ibid._, No. 31.) - -These names Sally Sander, Polly Sanders, etc., must be derived from the -same source as Saunderson and Sanders of the Cushion Dance. A host of -other rhymes current in the nursery deal with the same theme, and are -formed on the same model. There is one step only from _little Sally -Sander_ of Penzance, _little Polly Sanders_ of Liverpool, and _little -Alice Sander who sat upon a cinder_, to the following rhymes which are -included in different nursery collections. All these rhymes describe a -person sitting and waiting, and most of them dwell on the idea of a seat -or a cushion, while the allusion to matters matrimonial, being -unsuitable to children, is altogether dropped. - - Little Polly Flinders sat among the cinders, - Warming her pretty toes; - Her mother came and caught her, and scolded her little daughter, - For spoiling her nice new clothes. (1846, p. 212.) - - Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet, - Eating of curds and whey, - There came a great spider and sat down beside her - And frightened Miss Muffet away.[31] - - Little Mary Ester sat upon a tester - Eating of curds and whey; - There came a little spider and sat down beside her, - And frightened Mary Ester away. (1842, p. 61.) - - [31] _Songs for the Nursery_, published by Darton & Co., 1812. The - verses included in this collection were altered with a view to - rendering them more suitable for children. - -Tuffet and tester are words for a footstool. - - Little Miss Mopsey sat in the shopsey, - Eating of curds and whey; - There came a great spider who sat down beside her - And frightened Miss Mopsey away. (1842, p. 37.) - - Little Tom Tacket sits upon his cracket, - Half a yard of cloth will make him a jacket, - Make him a jacket and breeches to the knee, - And if you will not have him, you may let him be. (1842, p. 199.) - - Little Tom Tucker sings for his supper, - What shall he eat, but white bread and butter; - How will he cut it, without e're a knife - And how will he be married without e're a wife. - - (1744, p. 10; _c._ 1783, p. 56.) - - Little Jack Horner sat in the corner, - Eating a [of] Christmas pie; - He put in his thumb, and he took [pulled] out a plum, - And said [cried] - "What a good boy am I!" - - _Chorus_: And what a good boy am I! (_c._ 1783, p. 55.) - -These verses as they here stand arranged, show an increasing deviation -from the words used in playing the game of Sally Waters. - -Tom Tucker and Jack Horner are names that go some way back in history. -For Brand states that at the revels kept at St. John's College, 1 -November, 1607, a Christmas Lord of the Revels was chosen as Thomas -Tucker.[32] A dance tune of the _Dauncing Master_ was called _Tom -Tucker_ also.[33] - - [32] Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, I, 219. - - [33] _The Dauncing Master_, 1686, p. 130. - -The name of Jacky Horner was familiar to Carey about the year 1720, as -mentioned above. _Little Jack Horner_ was a well-known tune, and there -is a direction in the Grub Street opera that the chorus shall be sung -to this melody.[34] A chapbook of the latter half of the eighteenth -century bears the title, _The Pleasant History of Jack Horner, -containing his Witty Tricks_, etc. It cites the familiar rhyme, and -further describes the pranks that the hero played upon women. This -association and the name recall the expressions _hornified_, that is a -cuckold;[35] _horning_, a mock serenade "without which no wedding would -be complete"; and _Horn Fair_, a time of unusual licence, kept up in -Kent: "all was fair at Horn Fair" (1876, p. 387). - - [34] Whitmore, loc. cit., p. 27. - - [35] Murray's Dictionary: _Horning_. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -THE GAME OF _SALLY WATERS_ - - -The game of _Sally Waters_ calls for further comment. In this game, as -already mentioned, the players stand in a circle, boy and girl -alternately choose a partner, while the friends stand around and chant -the verses. In these lies the interest of the game. For these words in -the fifty variations collected by Mrs. Gomme, all give expression to the -same sequence of ideas. There is the call to Sally to go through the -ceremony of sprinkling the pan or watering the can. This is followed by -a chorus that urges that a choice be made. When this is made and sealed -by joining hands, or by kneeling, or by a kiss, the chorus utters wishes -for a prosperous union. Similar traits appear in the games known as -_Pretty Little Girl of Mine_, _The Lady of the Mountain_, and _Kiss in -the Ring_, which, in a less pronounced form, give expression to the same -ideas. - -The verses used in playing _Sally Waters_ in Dorsetshire are among the -most meaningful, and stand as follows:-- - - Sally, Sally Waters, sprinkle in the pan, - Rise, Sally; rise, Sally, and choose a young man; - Choose [_or_ bow] to the east, choose [_or_ bow] to the west - [_Or_ choose for the best one, choose for the worst one], - Choose the pretty girl [_or_ young man] that you love best. - - And now you're married, I wish you joy, - First a girl and then a boy; - Seven years after son and daughter, - And now young people, jump over the water. (1894, Nr. 1.) - -These verses and the fact that _Sally Waters_ is related to the Cushion -Dance that is danced at weddings, render it probable that _Sally Waters_ -originated in a marriage celebration of heathen times. The formula in -the Dorsetshire version of the game concludes with a direction to the -young couple to "jump over the water." In the Somersetshire version the -direction is "kiss each other and come out of the water" (1894, No. 3); -in the Shropshire variation, "kiss and shake hands and come out" (1894, -No. 14); in the London variation, "kiss before you go out of the water." -(Appendix.) - -Dipping was an accepted ceremonial during heathen times, which recovered -or revealed a person's true identity as in the case of Tam Linn, or of -the suspected witch who was thrown into the water. Dipping constituted -part of definite celebrations. For the ceremonial of "dipping" formed -part of the May-Day festival as it was kept in Northampton, while in -Cornwall the saying is current: "The first of May is dipping day" (1876, -p. 235). May-Day was a great day for contracting matrimonial alliances -in the heathen past, and is at present avoided because of its riotous -associations. - -Judging from the verses used in playing Sally Waters, the union between -the parties was contracted conditionally for seven years only. Seven -years are definitely mentioned in sixteen out of fifty variations of the -game. The same period is mentioned also in fourteen out of the -twenty-five variations of the verses used in playing _Pretty Little Girl -of Mine_, and in three out of seven variations of the verses used in -playing _The Lady on the Mountain_. - -Mrs. Gomme, in discussing the game of Sally Waters, cites various -expressions which show that the marriage vow is still popularly looked -upon as binding for a certain period only, sometimes for seven years -(1894, II, 177). I find this corroborated by remarks I have gleaned from -country-folk. Thus a woman whose husband had gone from her, after seven -years felt justified in looking upon him as dead, and had the bell -tolled for his funeral. - -Time-reckoning by seven years goes far back in history, and is still the -rule in many legal arrangements. Seven years of plenty succeeded seven -years of famine in Egypt. Once in seven years the fairies rode out to -claim their due. Some festivities happened only once in seven years. The -curious custom of _bumping_, that is, of two persons taking up by the -arms any persons whom they met, and swinging them to and fro, was -observed on Ganging Day (29 September) once in seven years at Bishop's -Stortford (1876, p. 380). At Bradford also a septennial festival was -kept in honour of Jason and the Golden Fleece and St. Blaize on 3 -February (1876, p. 60). Similarly a dance known as the Metzgersprung -was danced at Munich once in seven years to keep off the plague (Bo., p. -44). - -The mention of seven years in the marriage game may indicate that the -marriage was broken off after seven years if the stipulated conditions -failed to be fulfilled. These conditions were that the children born of -the union should include one of either sex. Mrs. Gomme, in connection -with this stipulation, remarks that a marriage is still popularly -reckoned incomplete from which there is not male and female offspring. -She also points out that the expression "choose for the best, choose for -the worst" of the marriage game, is related to the words "for better, -for worse" of the vernacular portion of the English marriage service. -The expressions "worst and best," or "wisest and best," occur in -thirteen out of the fifty versions of words; instead of these, "choose -east and choose west" occur in twenty-two out of the fifty versions -(1894, II, 168). It is difficult to decide which is the more primitive -form of the verse; I fancy the latter. - -The ceremony of choosing was led up to by _sprinkling the pan_, which is -mentioned in twenty-one out of fifty variations of the game; _watering -the can_ stands in twelve others. The pan was specially associated with -women as housekeepers, and, together with the cradle, is mentioned as -one of the first essentials in setting up house in the game of -_Wallflowers_.[36] - - [36] Gomme, loc. cit.: _Wallflowers_:-- - - Mister Moffit is a very good man, - He came to the door with a hat in his hand, - He pulled up his cloak and showed me the ring; - To-morrow, to-morrow the wedding begins. - First he bought a frying pan, then he bought the cradle, - And then one day the baby was born. Rock, rock the cradle. - - (No. 32.) - - -Judging from the game of _Sally Waters_ as played in Bucks, a "mother" -actually presided at the game, who directed her daughters to sprinkle -the pan, and their being included among those from whom a choice was -made, depended on their successfully doing so. To the words of the game -as played in Bucks, I have added in brackets an indication how the words -were probably distributed:-- - - (Half chorus): Sally, Sally Walker, sprinkled in the pan. - (Other half): What did she sprinkle for? - (Answer): For a young man. - (Mother): Sprinkle, sprinkle daughter, and you shall have a cow. - (Daughter): I cannot sprinkle, mother, because I don't know how. - (Mother): Sprinkle, daughter, sprinkle, and you shall have a man. - (Daughter): I cannot sprinkle, mother, but I'll do the best I can. - (Chorus): Pick and choose, but don't you pick me, - Pick the fairest you can see. - (Man): The fairest that I can see is.... Come to me! - - (1894, No. 23.) - -This is followed by the usual marriage formula. - -A similar dialogue is included amongst the Nursery Rhymes of Halliwell, -in which the daughter is directed to whistle, a word which formerly -conveyed the idea of uttering imprecations in a low voice, and which was -condemned in a woman since it marked her out for a witch. The verse -stands as follows:-- - - Whistle daughter, whistle, whistle for a cradle. - I cannot whistle, mammy, 'deed I am not able. - - Whistle daughter, whistle, whistle for a cow, - I cannot whistle, mammy, 'deed I know not how. - - Whistle, daughter, whistle, whistle for a man, - I cannot whistle, mammy; whew! Yes, I believe I can. - - (1846, p. 219.)[37] - - [37] Cf. - - A whistling woman and a crowing hen - Are neither fit for God or man. (1892, p. 506.) - -Also: - - Une femme qui siffle et une poule qui crie - Porte malheur dans la maison. - - - - -If the words used in playing _Sally Waters_ are analysed, it will be -seen that the name Sally occurs in forty-four out of fifty variations, -and that in twenty-four variations the name is associated with water. It -is combined with water especially in the south and the south-west of -England. Away from this district we have the name Sally Walker, in -Shropshire, Bucks, Yorkshire, Scotland, and Ireland; the name Sally -Salter in Yorkshire and Lincoln; the names Sally Sander in Penzance, -Polly Sanders in Liverpool, and so forth. Obviously, Sally Waters is the -oldest form of the name. This view is accepted by Mrs. Gomme, who was, -however, at a loss to account for the wide use of the name Sally Waters. -But, in classing the variations of words of the game according to the -reasonableness of their contents, she placed foremost as most meaningful -the verses that hailed from Dorsetshire, Somerset, and Devonshire, where -the form Sally Waters is in use. It is to this district, therefore, that -we must turn for the origin of the game of _Sally Waters_. - -On turning to the history of the British past in these districts, we -find that the Romans when they came to Bath found this spot far famed -for its waters. The name by which they knew the place was _Aquæ Solis_, -but the word _Solis_ did not stand for the sun as a male divinity, but -for _Sul_, the presiding female divinity of the place. For the Roman -temple built at Bath was dedicated to the goddess Sulis-Minerva, and the -name Sul, both with and without the name of Minerva, occurs among the -noted inscriptions.[38] It was a common practice with the Romans to -couple the name of one of their own divinities with that of a local -divinity, and Minerva, in her capacity of a healing goddess, was here -associated with Sul, the female divinity of the waters. On the façade of -the temple a medallion is represented. Inside it is the head of a -goddess with her hair tied together over her forehead, and a crescent -moon is behind her. The moon is an emblem which is not associated with -Minerva elsewhere, and the head on the medallion must therefore -represent Sul. Sul was the presiding divinity at Bath, and an altar was -also discovered which was dedicated to the Sulevæ. - - [38] Scarth, H. M., _Aquæ Solis, Notices on Roman Bath_, 1864, pp. - 16 ff., 22 ff., etc. - -A similar altar has been discovered at Nismes, which is dedicated to -_Suliviæ Idennicæ Minervæ_. Scarth, in his history of Roman Bath, cites -Mr. Roach Smith on these Sulevæ, who "appear to have been sylphs, the -tutelary divinities of rivers, fountains, hills, roads, villages and -other localities against whom were especially directed in the fifth and -subsequent centuries the anathemas of Christian councils, missionaries, -and princes."[39] Taking this evidence into consideration, is it -far-fetched to suggest that Sally Waters of the traditional marriage -game, which, in its most meaningful form, is still played in the -districts surrounding Bath, may be related to Sul of the waters of Bath, -and to her followers, or ministrants, the Sulevæ? - - [39] _Ibid._, p. 53. - -We know nothing further of Sul as far as our islands are concerned. But -in Central France a female impersonation of the sun is still called upon -as _La Soule_, and St. Solange, patron saint of Berry, who is -represented with a light over her forehead, is looked upon as heir to -her in the pantheon of Christian saints. Sulis also was a place-name in -Brittany during Roman times, situated somewhere between Auray and -Quimper. It seems probable that the site is identical with that of the -present St. Anne d'Auray, famous for its holy waters, which are still -sought in pilgrimage from far and near. The enormous stone basin into -which pilgrims are dipped, remains its most curious feature. - -In Scandinavian nursery lore we also come across a _Fru Sole_, the -mother of many daughters, who sat in heaven, and across _Fru Soletopp_, -who distributed gifts. These names may be related to Sul of the waters -of Bath, or to Sally of our game, or to both. However this may be, the -wide distribution of the game known as _Sally Waters_, and its peculiar -connection with the south-west of England, induce the belief that there -is some relation between Sally of the game, and Sul, the divinity of the -waters. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -_THE LADY OF THE LAND_ - - -Associations dating from heathen times are preserved in other -traditional games, the full meaning of which becomes apparent only when -we compare these with their foreign parallels. Some of these games in -their cruder and more primitive forms are sports, in which dialogue -takes the place of rhymed verses, and in which the characters that are -introduced are frequently spoken of as animals. - -Among the dancing and singing games first described by Halliwell is one -called by him _The Lady of the Land_. In this game one side is taken by -a mother and her daughters, the other by a second woman, and the game -consists in the daughters changing sides. The verses that are recited -are as follows:-- - - Here comes a woman from Babyland, - With three small children in her hand. - One can brew, the other can bake, - The other can make a pretty round cake. - One can sit in the garden and spin, - Another can make a fine bed for a king. - Pray m'am will you take one in? (1846, p. 121.) - -One child is then pointed out and passes to the other side, and this is -continued till all are selected. - -Twelve further variations of the words used in playing this game were -recovered from different parts of the country by Mrs. Gomme (1894, I, -313). Of these two, one from Shropshire (No. 3) and one from the Isle of -Wight (No. 6), like that of Halliwell, designate the woman as "from -Babyland." Others, from the Isle of Man and from Galloway (Appendix), -describe her as from Babylon, while further variations mention Sandiland -(No. 9), Cumberland (Berks, No. 8), and others. The word Babyland, which -occurs in three out of thirteen variations of the game, is probably the -original one, for it has a parallel in the corresponding German game in -the name _Engelland_, the land of the spirits of the unborn. - -The Babyland game in a more primitive form is known as _Little Dog I -call you_, in which the players also change sides (1894, I, 330). In -this game, the one side is taken by a girl who looks after a number of -children, the other by a girl who is designated as _Little Dog_, and who -stands apart. The children secretly impart their wishes to their owner -or leader, who warns them against laughing, and then calls the Little -Dog and tells him to pick out the child who has expressed such and such -a wish. Should this child laugh by inadvertence, she at once goes over -to the Little Dog. If not, the dog is left to guess who has imparted the -wish, and by doing so he secures the child. If he fails to guess aright, -the child goes and stands behind the leader and is altogether removed -out of the reach of the Little Dog. This is continued till all belong to -one side or the other, and the game concludes with a tug of war. - -The games of _The Lady of the Land_ and _Little Dog_ have parallels in -the foreign game of children changing sides, fourteen variations of -which were collected from different parts of northern Europe by -Mannhardt (M., p. 273). The closest parallel to _The Lady of the Land_ -is played in Belgium, in which sides are taken by two leaders, of whom -the one has many daughters and the other has none. The game is called -_Riche et pauvre_ and the following verses are sung:-- - - Je suis pauvre, je suis pauvre, Anne Marie Jacqueline; - Je suis pauvre dans ce jeu d'ici.-- - Je suis riche, je suis riche, Anne Marie Jacqueline; - Je suis riche dans ce jeu d'ici.-- - Donnez-moi un de vos enfants, Anne Marie Jacqueline, - Donnez-moi un de vos enfants, dans ce jeu d'ici. (M., No. 13.) - - "I am poor, I am poor in this game, I am rich in this game. Give me - one of your children, in this game." - -This is continued as in the Babyland game till every child has had its -turn. There is no sequel. - -In the German game the woman who owns the children is called sometimes -Mary, sometimes Witch, but usually she has the name of a heathen -divinity. Thus in Mecklenburg she is _Fru Goden_ or _Fru Gol_ (No. 11). -Gode is the name of a mother divinity, who, as _Godmor_, is the mother -of Thor (Gr., p. 209, note). In the game as played in Prussia (No. 10), -in Elsass (No. 3), in Swabia (No. 2), and in Aargau (No. 4), she is -_Frau Ros_ or _Frau Rose_, that is Lady Ros or Rose; while in -Pommerellen she is either _Ole Moder Rose_ or _Ole Moder Taersche_ (No. -1), a word that signifies witch. In Holstein, on the other hand, the -alternative is recorded as _Fru Rosen_ or _Mutter Marie_, Mother Mary -(No. 9), while in Appenzell (No. 5) and near Dunkirk (No. 6) the owner -of the children is _Marei Muetter Gotts_, i.e. Mary the Mother of God. -Mannhardt points out that Ross, sometimes Rose, is the name of a German -mother divinity who occurs frequently in German folk-lore. I have come -across Mother Ross in our own chapbook literature, where the name may be -traditional also. Mary indicates the substitution of a Christian name in -the place of the older heathen one. In Sweden the owner of many babes is -_Fru Sole_, who is represented as sitting in heaven surrounded by her -daughters, who are described as chickens (No. 14). - -The game of securing children is called in Switzerland _Das Englein -aufziehen_ (No. 5), that is, "the drawing forth of an angel." The word -_Engel_, angel, according to the information collected by Mannhardt, -originally designates the spirit that awaits re-birth. For the heathen -inhabitants of Northern Europe, including the Kelts, were unable to -realize individual death. They held that the living spirit passed away -with death, but continued in existence, and again reappeared under -another shape. In the civilization that belonged to the mother age, -these spirits or angels that awaited re-birth, peopled the realm which -was associated with divine mothers or mother divinities. At a later -period, transferred into Christian belief, they were pictured as a host -of winged babes, whom we find represented in mediaeval art hovering -around the Virgin Mother and Child. - -The land in which the unborn spirits dwelt, is generally spoken of in -German nursery and folk rhymes as _Engelland_, an expression which forms -a direct parallel to the expression Babyland of our game. Thus the -_Woman of Babyland_, like _Frau Rose_ or _Frau Gode_ of the German -game, was in all probability a divine mother, who was the owner of the -spirits or babes that awaited re-birth. - -In the estimation of Mannhardt, the game in which children are drawn -from one woman into the possession of the other, preserves the relics of -a ceremonial connected with the cult of the mother divinity. It visibly -set forth how the spirits of the departed were drawn back into life (M., -p. 319). Perhaps we may go a step further. The study of folk-lore has -taught us that to simulate a desired result is one way of working for -its attainment. Women who were desirous of becoming mothers, both in -England and in Germany, were wont to rock an empty cradle. They also -visited particular shrines. Of the rites which they practised there we -know nothing. Perhaps the Babyland game originated not as an ideal -conception, but preserves the relics of a rite by which women sought to -promote motherhood. This assumption is supported by various features -that are incidental to the game. - -Thus the game, both in England and abroad, is essentially a girls' -game, and the words that are used indicate that it is played by them -only. Even where the generality of the players are designated as -"children," the leaders are invariably girls. - -Again, in some versions of the foreign game (Nos. 8, 9) there is mention -of salt. The woman who asks for a child, complains that she has lost -those that were given to her; she is told that she ought to have -sprinkled them with salt (No. 8). Sprinkling with salt is still observed -at Christian baptism in some districts, and such sprinkling is said to -make a child safe.[40] - - [40] Cf. Addy, S. O., _House Tales and Traditional Remains_, 1895, - pp. 86, 120. - -Again, in the game as played abroad the child that is chosen is put to -the test if it can be made to laugh (Nos. 2, 4, 5, 8). In the game of -_Little Dog_ also, the child that laughs passes into the keeping of a -new owner. Laughing indicates quickening into life, and in folk-lore -generally the child that refrains from laughing is reckoned uncanny. -Numerous stories are told of the changeling that was made to laugh and -disappeared, when the real child was found restored to its cradle. - -Again, in the foreign game the player who seeks to secure a child speaks -of herself as lame, and limps in order to prove herself so (Nos. 1, 2, -14). In one instance she attributes her limping to a bone in her leg. -Limping, in the estimation of Mannhardt, is peculiar to the woman who -has borne children (M., p. 305). For in German popular parlance the -woman who is confined, is said to have been bitten by the stork who -brought the child. - -A reminiscence of this idea lurks in our proverb rhyme:-- - - The wife who expects to have a good name, - Is always at home as if she were lame; - And the maid that is honest, her chiefest delight - Is still to be doing from morning till night.[41] - - [41] Bohn, H., _A Handbook of Proverbs_, 1901, p. 43. - -Again, in one version of the foreign game the children that are won over -are given the names of dogs, and when their former owner attempts to get -them back, they rush at her and bark (No. 1). This corresponds to our -game of _Little Dog_, in which the child that stands apart is addressed -as "Little Dog I call you." Grimm declared himself at a loss to account -for the fact that a dog was associated with the Norns or Fate-maidens -who assisted at childbirth (Gr., p. 339); Mannhardt cites the belief -that the spirits of the dead were sometimes spoken of as dogs (M., p. -301); and in England there also exists a superstition that the winds -that rush past at night are dogs, the so-called Gabriel hounds or -ratchets (cf. below, p. 165). - -Features preserved in other games contain similar suggestions which are -worth noting. - -Thus in the game known as _Drop-handkerchief_ one girl holding a -kerchief goes round the others who are arranged in a circle, saying:-- - - I have a little dog and it won't bite you - It won't bite you, it won't bite you [_ad lib._] - It _will_ bite you. (1894, I, 109.) - -The person on whom _the little dog_ is bestowed is "bitten"; that is, -she is in the same predicament as the German woman who is bitten by the -stork, and the limping woman of the German Babyland game. - -In playing _Drop-handkerchief_ in Deptford the children sing:-- - - I had a little dog whose name was Buff, - I sent him up the street for a pennyworth of snuff. - He broke my box and spilt my snuff - I think my story is long enough-- - 'Taint you, 'taint you, and 'taint you, but 'tis you. - - (1894, I, p. 111.) - -In the collection of Nursery Songs by Rusher stands the following -rhyme:-- - - I had a little dog and they called him Buff, - I sent him to a shop to buy me snuff, - But he lost the bag and spilt the stuff; - I sent him no more but gave him a cuff, - For coming from the mart without any snuff. - -"Bufe" as a word for a dog occurs as far back as 1567.[42] - - [42] Murray's Dictionary: _Bufe_. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -CUSTOM RHYMES - - -The comparison of our short nursery rhymes with those current in other -countries, next engages our attention. Halliwell has remarked that some -of our rhymes are chanted by the children of Germany and Scandinavia, -which to him strikingly exhibited the great antiquity and remote origin -of these rhymes. The observation which he made with regard to the -countries of Northern Europe, applies to the countries of Central and -Southern Europe also. Scholarly collections of rhymes have been -published during recent years in Scandinavia, Germany, France, Italy, -Spain, and referring to special parts of these countries, which give us -a fair insight into their nursery lore. (Cf., p. 212). The comparison of -these collections with ours yields surprising results. Often the same -thought is expressed in the same form of verse. Frequently the same -proper name reappears in the same connection. In many cases rhymes, that -seem senseless taken by themselves, acquire a definite meaning when -taken in conjunction with their foreign parallels. Judging from what we -know of nursery rhymes and their appearance in print, the thought of a -direct translation of rhymes in the bulk cannot be entertained. We are -therefore left to infer, either that rhymes were carried from one -country to another at a time when they were still meaningful, or else -that they originated in different countries as the outcome of the same -stratum of thought. - -The sorting of nursery rhymes according to the number of their foreign -parallels, yields an additional criterion as to the relative antiquity -of certain rhymes. For those rhymes that embody the more primitive -conceptions are those that are spread over the wider geographical area. -The above inquiry has shown that pieces such as _Mother Hubbard_ and -_Three Blind Mice_ are relatively new, and that all the rhymes formed on -the model of _Little Miss Muffet_ go back to the _Cushion Dance_ and to -the game of _Sally Waters_. Rhymes of this kind are entirely without -foreign parallels. On the other hand, calls, such as those addressed to -the ladybird and the snail, and riddle-rhymes, such as that on _Humpty -Dumpty_, have numerous and close parallels half across Europe. - -The ladybird is the representative among ourselves of a large class of -insects which were associated with the movement of the sun from the -earliest times. The association goes back to the _kheper_ or chafer of -ancient Egypt, which has the habit of rolling along the ball that -contains its eggs. This ball was identified as the orb of the sun, and -the _kheper_ was esteemed as the beneficent power that helped to keep it -moving. - -A like importance attached to the chafers that had the power of flying, -especially to the ladybird (_Coccinella septem punctata_). In India the -insect was called _Indragopas_, that is "protected by Indra." The story -is told how this insect flew too near the sun, singed its wings, and -fell back to the earth.[43] - - [43] De Gubernatis, _Zoological Mythology_, 1872, II, p. 209. - -In Greece the same idea was embodied in the myth of Ikaros, the son of -Dædalus, who flew too near the sun with the wings he had made for -himself, and, falling into the sea, was drowned. Already the ancient -Greeks were puzzled by this myth, which found its reasonable explanation -in describing Ikaros as the inventor of sails. He was the first to -attach sails to a boat, and sailing westwards, he was borne out to sea -and perished. - -Among ourselves the ladybird is always addressed in connection with its -power of flight. It is mostly told to return to its house or home, which -is in danger of being destroyed by fire, and warned of the ruin -threatening its children if it fails to fly. But some rhymes address it -on matters of divination, and one urges it to bring down blessings from -heaven. - -The rhyme addressed to the ladybird first appears in the nursery -collection of 1744, where it stands as follows:-- - - 1. Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home, - Your house is on fire, your children will burn. - -Many variations of the rhyme are current in different parts of the -country, which may be tabulated as follows:-- - - 2. Lady cow, lady cow, fly away home, - Your house is on fire, your children all roam. (1892, p. 326.) - - 3. Ladycow, Ladycow, fly and be gone, - Your house is on fire, and your children at home. - - (Hallamshire, 1892, p. 326.) - - 4. Gowdenbug, gowdenbug, fly away home, - Yahr house is bahnt dun, and your children all gone. - - (Suffolk, _N. & Q._, IV., 55.) - - 5. Ladybird, ladybird, eigh thy way home, - Thy house is on fire, thy children all roam, - Except little Nan, who sits in her pan - Weaving gold laces as fast as she can. - - (Lancashire, 1892, p. 326.) - - 6. Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home, - Your house is on fire, your children at home. - They're all burnt but one, and that's little Ann, - And she has crept under the warming pan. (Rusher's Series.) - - 7. Ladycow, ladycow, fly thy way home, - Thy house is on fire, thy children all gone; - All but one, that ligs under a stone, - Ply thee home, ladycow, ere it be gone. (1842, p. 204.) - - 8. Ladycow, Ladycow, fly away home, - Thy house is on fire, thy children all gone; - All but one, and he is Tum, - And he lies under the grindelstone. - - (Shropshire, 1892, p. 327.) - - 9. Dowdy cow, dowdy cow, ride away hame, - Thy house is burnt, and thy bairns are ta'en; - And if thou means to save thy bairns, - Take thy wings and fly away. - - (N. Riding, Yorks., 1892, p. 327.) - - 10. Lady, lady landers, fly away to Flanders. - - (Chambers, 1842, p. 43.) - - 11. Fly, ladybird, fly! - North, south, east, or west, - Fly to the pretty girl that I love best. (1849, p. 5.) - - 12. King, king Golloway, up your wings and fly away, - Over land and over sea; tell me where my love can be. - - (Kincardineshire, 1870, p. 201.) - - 13. Ladycow, ladycow, fly from my hand, - Tell me where my true love stands, - Up hill and down hill and by the sea-sand. (1892, p. 119.) - - 14. Bishop, Bishop, Barnabee, tell me when my wedding will be. - If it be to-morrow day, - Ope your wings and fly away. (Sussex, 1892, p. 119.) - - 15. Bishop, bishop, barnabee, tell me when my wedding will be. - Fly to the east, fly to the west, - Fly to them that I love best. (_N. & Q._, I., p. 132.) - - 16. Burnie bee, burnie bee, say when will your wedding be. - If it be to-morrow day, - Take your wings and fly away. (Norfolk, 1849, p. 3.) - - 17. Bless you, bless you, bonnie bee, say when will your wedding be. - If it be to-morrow day, - Take your wings and fly away. (M., p. 253, foot-note.) - - 18. God A'mighty's colly cow, fly up to heaven; - Carry up ten pound, and bring down eleven. - - (Hampshire, 1892, p. 327.) - - 19. This ladyfly I take from the grass, - Whose spotted back might scarlet red surpass. - Fly ladybird, north, south, or east or west, - Fly where the man is found that I love best. - - (M., p. 417, citing Brand.) - -The comparison of these rhymes with their foreign parallels, of which a -number were collected by Mannhardt, shows that a rhyme current in Saxony -is very close to ours:-- - - Himmelsküchlein, flieg aus! - Dein Haus brennt, - Deine kinder weinen alle miteinander. (M., p. 349.) - - "Heaven's little chicken, fly away; thy house is on fire, thy - children are all crying." - -Mannhardt was of opinion that the ladybird rhyme originated as a charm -intended to speed the sun across the dangers of sunset, that is, the -"house on fire" or welkin of the West, which is set aglow at sundown. -Throughout the East a prayer is still uttered to the setting sun in -order to ensure its safe return on the morrow. - -The ladybird is known by a variety of names both in England and abroad. -Among ourselves it is identified as a cow, a bird, or a bee, while the -_lady_ of our rhymes reappears as Mary in the German expression -_Marienkäfer_. In Sweden the ladybird is addressed as _Jungfru Marias -Nyckelpiga_, "the Lady Mary's keybearer," and this expression is -explained by the story that the Virgin lost the keys of heaven, and that -all the animals helped her to look for them. They were found by the -ladybird, to whose care they are now entrusted. The keys of heaven have -been interpreted as the lightning which opened the floodgates of heaven. -For the mother divinities were credited with making the weather, with -giving rain, and with washing. This latter association lingers in the -Scottish ladybird rhyme, in which the ladybird is addressed as landers, -i.e. laundress (M., p. 250, foot-note). - -In Potsdam they sing:-- - - Marienwörmken flïg furt, - Flïg furt nach Engelland! - Engelland ist zugeschlossen, - Schlüssel davon abgebrochen. (M., p. 347.) - - "Insect of Mary, fly away, fly away to Engelland. Engelland is - locked, its key is broken." - -The rhyme thus combines the idea of the keys of heaven with _Engelland_, -the home of the unborn spirits, and with Mary, to whom the insect is -dedicated. - -Many of our ladybird rhymes refer to the danger that is threatening, -probably from sunset or the direction of the West, but one person is -safe. It is little Nan, who sits weaving gold laces. Spinning gold or -silk was a prerogative of the mother divinities who sat in heaven (Gr., -223, M., 705). Another rhyme calls her Ann. Nan or Ann reappears in the -corresponding ladybird rhymes of Switzerland and Swabia. In Aargau they -sing:-- - - Goldchäber, flüg uf, uf dine hoche Tanne, - Zue diner Muetter Anne. - Si git dir Chäs und Brod, - 's isch besser as der bitter Tod. (R., p. 464.) - - "Gold-chafer, up and away, up to thy high story, to thy Mother - Anne, who gives thee bread and cheese. 'Tis better than bitter - death." - -In Swabia they sing:-- - - Sonnevögele flieg aus, - Flieg in meiner Ahne Haus, - Bring mir Aepfel und Bire; - Komm bald wieder. (Me., p. 24.) - - "Sunbird, fly away, fly to my ancestress' house; bring me apples - and pears; come back soon." - -This request to the ladybird to bring down gifts from heaven has a -parallel in our rhyme which entreats it to "carry up ten pounds, and -bring down eleven." - -According to another of our rhymes the one who is safe at home is Tom, -who lies under the grindelstone, that is the grindstone. The analysis of -the stories that are told of Tom shows that he is related to the -northern god Thor, and that the grindstone corresponds to Thor's hammer. -Moreover, in Scandinavian folk-lore there is a house-sprite called -Tommelgubbe, literally Tom-boy, who took offence if work was done on a -Thursday, the day sanctified to the god Thor. The hammer of Thor was -called _Mjölnir_, that is pounder, and with it the god was busy in -summertime in heaven, pounding ice into snow. - -In an old story-book called _Tom Hickathrift_, otherwise -_Hickifric_,[44] traits are preserved in connection with Tom, which -recall the peculiarities of the god Thor. Tom dwelt with his mother, who -slept on straw; there was no father. Thor had no father; his mother was -designated as Godmor. Tom ate hugely, Thor did the same. Tom flung his -hammer into the river, Thor measured distance by throwing his hammer. -Tom carted beer--a trait that recalls Thor's fits of drunkenness. On one -occasion Tom made himself a weapon by sticking an axle-tree into a -waggon-wheel, which suggests that Thor's hammer was a flat stone mace. -Likewise Tom, having broken his club, "seized upon a lusty raw-boned -miller," and used him as a weapon. Can we hesitate from accepting that -this "miller" in a confused manner recalls the _Mjölnir_--that is the -hammer--of the northern god Thor? - - [44] Reprinted Halliwell, 1849, p. 81 ff. - -The analysis of the ladybird rhymes takes us even farther afield. In -Saxony they sing:-- - - Flieg, Käfer, flieg, dein Vater ist im Krieg, - Deine Mutter ist in den Stiefel gekroche, - Hat das linke Bein gebroche. (M., p. 347.) - - "Fly, chafer, fly, father has gone to war, mother has crept into - the shoe, she has broken her left leg." - -The mother with the broken leg of this rhyme recalls the limping mother -of the Babyland game, and the person in _Drop Handkerchief_, who was -bitten. The expression of "creeping into a shoe" yields a clue to the -nature of the woman of one of our rhymes who lived in a shoe, and was -oppressed by the number of her children. In one form this rhyme, cited -above in connection with the tale of Mother Hubbard, describes how the -children were to all appearance dead, but were quickened into life. This -conception is allied to the quickening into life of the babes in the -Babyland game. In its earliest printed form the rhyme stands as -follows:-- - - There was an old woman who lived in a shoe, - She had so many children she didn't know what to do; - She gave them some broth without any bread, - She whipped all their bums and sent them to bed. - - (_c._ 1783, p. 52.) - -Those of our ladybird rhymes which call on the insect in matters of love -divination have their closest parallels in Scandinavia. In Sweden they -sing:-- - - Jungfru Marias Nyckelpiga, - Flyg öster, flyg vester, - Flyg dit der bor din älskede. (1849, p. 5.) - - "Fly, Our Lady's keybearer! fly east, fly west, fly where thy lover - dwells." - -Of the rhymes of this class, one introduces the term Golloway. This may -be intended for Yellow Way, the course of the sun in daytime, as -distinct from the Milky Way, the course of the stars at night. - -Another rhyme begins with the call Bishop, bishop, which has puzzled -various commentators. I venture to suggest that the word be read -Beeship, and that it indicates the boat that sailed across heaven -bearing the souls of the dead, who were figured as bees. For the spirits -of those who passed away, viewed under one aspect, were bees, and the -ship that conveyed the dead in Norsk saga was actually designated as the -_B[(y]skip_. Mannhardt, in illustration, cites a line which the skald -Egil Skallagrimssonr, whose date is between 902 and 980, sang on his son -that had been drowned:-- - - Byrr es b[(y]skips i boe kominn kvanar son. - - "In the beeship there has gone the son of my wife." - -Our commentators inaccurately translate the expression as "City of the -Hive" (C. P., I, 546). - -According to a fancy of the Welsh bards, Britain was peopled with bees -before the arrival of man, and this was held to account for its name, -the "Isle of Honey." - -A Prussian ladybird rhyme also mentions the boat that sailed across -heaven. In Dantzig they sing:-- - - Herrgotspferdchen, fliege weg, - Dein Häuschen brennt, dein Kähnchen schwimmt, - Deine Kinder schreien nach Butterbrod; - Herrgotspferdchen, fliege weg. (M., 349.) - - "God Almighty's little horse, fly away, thy house is on fire, thy - boat is afloat, thy children cry for bread and butter." - -From an early period the sun was supposed to be conveyed in a boat, and -boats were associated with divinities half the world over. Tacitus was -acquainted with the boat of the goddess Isis that was conveyed about in -Alexandria, and he described the boat that was taken about in procession -by the heathen Germans in their cult of Hertha, as the boat of Isis -(Gr., p. 214). The sun-boat of Ra in Egypt conveyed the dead to heaven. -So did the golden ship of Odin in Scandinavia, which conveyed the bodies -of the fallen warriors to Valhalla. The remembrance of this sun-boat -probably gave rise to the story how Ikaros invented sails. It may linger -still in the "beeship" of our rhymes, and in the "Kähnchen" of the -corresponding German ladybird rhyme. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -RIDDLE-RHYMES - - -Among other rhymes which date some way back in history are those which -may fitly be called riddle-rhymes. Some of these have close parallels in -the nursery lore of other countries. The most interesting example of -this class is the rhyme on Humpty-Dumpty which deals with the egg. The -egg from the earliest times formed an enigma in itself, and was looked -upon as representing the origin of life. Aristophanes knew of the great -bird that laid the world-egg. According to _Kalevala_, the Finnish epic, -the world-egg fell and broke. Its upper part became the vault of heaven, -its lower part the earth. The yolk formed the sun, the white the moon, -and the fragments of the shell became the stars in heaven. Reminiscences -of this idea of a world-egg linger in the _Senchus Mor_ of Ireland and -in the _Volospa_ of Norse saga. In Tibet the holy Budh is represented -holding in his hand a broken egg-shell, on the edge of which a -diminutive human being is sometimes represented sitting. These -world-wide conceptions account for the existence of numerous riddles -that are current about the egg. - -The rhyme on Humpty-Dumpty among us is current in three variations:-- - - Humpty-Dumpty sate on a wall, - Humpty-Dumpty had a great fall; - Threescore men and threescore more - Cannot place Humpty-Dumpty as he was before. (1810, p. 36.) - - Humpty-Dumpty sate on a wall, - Humpty-Dumpty had a great fall; - All the king's soldiers and all the king's men - Cannot set Humpty-Dumpty up again. (1842, p. 113.) - - Humpty-Dumpty lay in a beck - With all his sinews around his neck; - Forty doctors and forty wights - Couldn't put Humpty-Dumpty to rights. (1846, p. 209.) - -Many parallels of this rhyme were collected from different parts of -Europe by Mannhardt. In these Humpty-Dumpty appears under various names. -They include Hümpelken-Pümpelken, Rüntzelken-Püntzelken, -Wirgele-Wargele, Gigele-Gagele, and Etje-Papetje in different parts of -Germany, and Lille-Trille and Lille Bulle in Scandinavia. The closest -parallel of our rhyme hails from Saxony, and stands as follows:-- - - Hümpelken-Pümpelken sat up de Bank, - Hümpelken-Pümpelken fël von de Bank; - Do is kën Docter in Engelland - De Hümpelken-Pümpelken kurere kann. (M., p. 416.)[45] - - "H.-P. sat on a bench, H.-P. fell from the bench; there is no - doctor in Engelland who can restore H.-P." - - [45] Cf. also Mannhardt, _Das Rätsel vom Ei_, in _Zeitschrift für - deutsche Mythologie_, IV, 1859, p. 394 ff. - -In Switzerland the rhyme of Humpty-Dumpty is told of Annebadadeli. The -usual answer is an egg, but sometimes it is an icicle or a -feeding-bottle. - -In Scandinavia they say:-- - - Lille Bulle trilla' ner a skulle; - Ingen man i detta lan' - Lille Bulle laga kan. (1849, p. 9.) - - "Little B. fell from the shelf, no man in the whole land can - restore little B." - -This has a further parallel in France in a rhyme which reproduces the -German expression Engelland regardless of its intrinsic meaning:-- - - Boule, boule su l'keyere, - Boule, boule par terre. - Y n'a nuz homme en Angleterre - Pou l'erfaire.[46] - - "B. b. on the bench, B. b. on the ground. There is no man in - England who can restore him." - - [46] Rolland, E., _Devinettes on énigmes populaires_, 1877, p. 199, - from Mons. - -The forty doctors of our rhyme who figure also as twice threescore men, -reappear in the German rhyme as "no doctor in _Engelland_," as "no man -in all the land" in the Scandinavian rhyme, and as "no man in England" -literally translated, of the French version. - -In one version of our rhyme those who are powerless to restore what is -broken are described as "all the king's soldiers and all the king's -men." This expression is also used in the riddle-rhymes on Smoke and on -the Well, which are found in our own and in foreign nursery collections. - - As round as an apple, as deep as a cup, - And all the king's horses cannot pull it up. - - (The Well, 1846, p. 75.) - - As high as a castle, as weak as a wastle, - And all the king's soldiers cannot pull it down. - - (Smoke, 1849, p. 144.) - -In Swabia they say:-- - - Es ist etwas in meinem Haus, - Es ziehen es hundert tausend Gäule nicht naus. (Me., p. 79.) - - "There is something in my house, not a hundred thousand horses can - pull it out." - -The answer is "Smoke." In France they say:-- - - Qu'est-ce-qui est rond comme un dé, - Et que des chevaux ne peuvent porter.[47] - - "What is as round as a thimble, and horses cannot pull it?" - - [47] Rolland, E., _Devinettes on énigmes populaires_, 1877, p. 98, - from Paris. - -The answer is "A well." Possibly the "king" of these rhymes stands for -the sun as the representative of power, whose horses and men are alike -powerless. - -The egg, which in these rhymes is designated by fanciful names, in other -riddle-rhymes current abroad is described as a cask containing two kinds -of beer. A riddle was put by the god Wodan in the character of a -wayfarer to King Heidrek, and stood as follows:-- - -"Blond--haired brides, bondswomen both, carried ale to the barn; the -casks were not turned with hands nor forged by hammers; she that made it -strutted about outside the isle." The answer is "Eider-ducks' eggs" (C. -P., I, 89). - -The egg is also likened to a cask containing beer in a short -riddle-rhyme which is current from Lapland to Hungary. In the Faroe -Islands it takes this form: "Bolli fell from the ledge, all its hoops -fell off. There is no man in the East, there is no man in the West, who -can restore it" (M., p. 417). In Prussia they say:-- - - Kommt ein Tonn aus Engelland, - Ohne Boden, ohne Band; - Ist zweierleai Bier drin. (Sim., p. 287.) - - "A cask comes from Engelland, without bottom, without band; it - contains two kinds of beer." - -Among ourselves there is no riddle-rhyme, as far as I know, which -describes the egg as a cask containing beer. But in the seventeenth -century the word Humpty-Dumpty was used to designate a drink which -consisted of ale boiled in brandy,[48] and this conception obviously -hangs together with the two kinds of beer of the foreign riddle-rhymes -on the egg. - - [48] Murray's Dictionary: _Humpty-Dumpty_. - -Other riddle-rhymes current among ourselves or abroad describe the egg -as a house or a castle. The following one describes it as an enigma in -itself:-- - - As I was going o'er London Bridge - I saw something under a hedge; - 'Twas neither fish, flesh, fowl, nor bone, - And yet in three weeks it runned alone. (1846, p. 213.) - -Girls in America play a game called _Humpty-Dumpty_. They sit on the -ground with their skirts tightly gathered around them so as to enclose -the feet. The leader begins some rhyme, all join in, and at a certain -word previously agreed upon, all throw themselves backwards, keeping -their skirts tightly grasped. The object is to recover the former -position without letting go the skirt (N., p. 132). - -Possibly the game is older than the riddle-rhymes, for these rhymes -describe _Humpty-Dumpty_ as sitting on a wall, or a bank, or a ledge, or -as lying in a beck, which for an actual egg are impossible situations. -They are intelligible on the assumption that the sport is older than -the rhyme, and that the rhyme describes human beings who are personating -eggs. - -The name Humpty-Dumpty itself is one of the large class of rhyming -compounds which are formed by the varied reduplication of the same word. -Perhaps they originally conveyed a definite meaning. The word -Humpty-Dumpty is allied to _hump_ and to _dump_, words which express -roundness and shortness. Another name of the kind is Hoddy-Doddy, which -occurs in the following riddle-rhyme:-- - - Hoddy-Doddy with a round, black body; - Three legs and a wooden hat, what is that? (1849, p. 142.) - -The answer is "An iron pot."[49] The word Hoddy-Doddy in the sixteenth -century was directly used to express "a short and dumpy person" (1553). -It was also applied to a "hen-pecked man" (1598).[50] The meaning of -shortness and roundness is expressed also by the name of the foreign -equivalents of Humpty-Dumpty. The German Hümpelken-Pümpelken, and -probably Lille Bulle of Scandinavia convey the same idea. On the other -hand, the names Wirgele-Wargele and Gigele-Gagele suggest instability. -The Danish Lille Trille is allied to _lille trölle_, little troll, that -is, a member of the earlier and stumpy race of men who, by a later age, -were accounted dwarves. These were credited in folk-lore with -sex-relations of a primitive kind, an allusion to which seems to linger -in the word Hoddy-Doddy as applied to a hen-pecked man. - - [49] A workman in Berkshire in 1905 repeated this riddle to H. P. - - [50] Murray's Dictionary: _Hoddy-Doddy_. - -Among other rhyming compounds is the word _Hitty-Pitty_. It occurs in a -riddle-rhyme which Halliwell traced back to the seventeenth century (MS. -Harl. 1962):-- - - Hitty Pitty within the wall, - Hitty Pitty without the wall; - If you touch Hitty Pitty, - Hitty Pitty will bite you. (A nettle, 1849, p. 149.) - -This verse is sometimes used in playing _Hide and Seek_ as a warning to -the player who approaches the place that is "hot" (1894, I, 211). A -variation of the word is _Highty-Tighty_, which is preserved in the -following rhyme:-- - - Highty, tighty, paradighty, clothed in green, - The king could not read it, no more could the queen; - They sent for a wise man out of the East, - Who said it had horns, but was not a beast. (1842, p. 118.) - -The answer is "A holly tree." - -Another rhyming compound is preserved in the riddle-rhyme on the -sunbeam:-- - - Hick-a-more, Hack-a-more - Hung on a kitchen door; - Nothing so long, and nothing so strong, - As Hick-a-more, Hack-a-more - Hung on the kitchen door. (1846, p. 207.) - -The following riddle-rhyme preserves the word lilly-low, which is the -north-country term for the flame of a candle:-- - - Lilly-low, lilly-low, set up on end, - See little baby go out at town end. (A candle, 1849, p. 146.) - -Another riddle on the candle, which also stands in MS. Harl. 1962, and -has found its way into nursery collections, is:-- - - Little Nancy Etticoat with a white petticoat, - And a red nose; - The longer she stands, the shorter she grows. (1842, p. 114.) - -This recalls a riddle current in Devonshire, where the sky is called -widdicote:-- - - Widdicote, widdicote, over cote hang; - Nothing so broad, and nothing so lang - As Widdicote, etc. (1892, p. 333.) - -All these riddle-rhymes are based on primitive conceptions, and all have -parallels in the nursery lore of other countries. The rhyme on -Hoddy-Doddy in Norwegian is simply descriptive; in France it is told in -the form of words exchanged between _Noiret_, "Blacky," the pot, and -_Rouget_, "Ruddy," the fire. In Italy the Pot, the Smoke, and the Fire -are described as three sisters. Again, the riddle-rhyme on the candle is -told in Swabia and in France. But in no case are the foreign parallels -as close as in the riddle-rhyme of Humpty-Dumpty, and in no case do they -preserve the same interesting allusions. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -CUMULATIVE PIECES - - -We now turn to rhymes which dwell on different ideas and present life -under other aspects. In these rhymes there is much on spells, on the -magic properties of numbers, and on sacrificial hunting. A fatalistic -tendency underlies many of these rhymes, and there are conscious efforts -to avert danger. - -The different range of ideas which are here expressed is reflected in -the form of verse in which they are presented. While the rhymes hitherto -discussed are set in verse which depends for its consistency on tail -rhyme and assonance, the pieces that deal with the magic properties of -things and with hunting, are mostly set in a form of verse that depends -for its consistency on repetition and cumulation. This difference in -form is probably due to the different origin of these pieces. Rhymed -verse may have originated in dancing and singing--cumulative verse in -recitation and instruction. - -In cumulative recitation one sentence is uttered and repeated, a second -sentence is uttered and repeated, then the first sentence is said; a -third sentence is uttered and repeated, followed by the second and the -first. Thus each sentence adds to the piece and carries it back to the -beginning. Supposing each letter to stand for a sentence, the form of -recitation can thus be described: A, a; B, b, a; C, c, b, a; D, d, c, b, -a; etc. This manner of recitation is well known among ourselves, but I -know of no word to designate it. In Brittany the form of recitation is -known as _chant de grénouille_, i.e. frog-chant. A game of forfeits was -known in the eighteenth century, which was called _The Gaping -Wide-mouthed Waddling Frog_, in which the verses were recited in exactly -the same manner. We shall return to it later. A relation doubtless -exists between this game and the French expression frog-chant. - -Among our most familiar pieces that are set in cumulative form are _The -Story of the Old Woman and Her Pig_ and _This is the House that Jack -built_. They both consist of narrative, and are told as stories. _This -is the House that Jack built_ first appeared in print as a toy-book that -was issued by Marshall at his printing office, Aldermary Churchyard. It -is illustrated with cuts, and its date is about 1770. Perhaps the story -is referred to in the _Boston News Letter_ (No. 183) of 12-19 April, -1739, in which the reviewer of Tate and Brady's Version of the Psalms -remarks that this "makes our children think of the tune of their vulgar -playsong so like it: this is the man all forlorn." The sentence looks -like a variation of the line "this is the maiden all forlorn" in _This -is the House that Jack built_. - -In 1819 there was published in London a satire by Hone, called _The -Political House that Jack built_. It was illustrated by Cruikshank, and -went through fifty-four editions. In form it imitates the playsong, -which was doubtless as familiar then as it is now. - -The playsong in the form published by Marshall begins:-- - - This is the house that Jack built,-- - This is the malt that lay in the house that Jack built,-- - This is the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack - built,-- - -which is followed by the cat that killed the rat--the dog that worried -the cat--the cow that tossed the dog--the maiden that milked the -cow--the man that kissed the maid--the priest that married them. Here it -ended. But a further line added by Halliwell (1842, p. 222) mentioned -the cock that crowed on the morn of the wedding-day, and a lady of over -seventy has supplied me with one more line, on the knife that killed the -cock. She tells me that she had the story from her nurse, and that she -does not remember seeing it in print. The version she repeated in -cumulative form, told to me, ended as follows:-- - - This is the knife with a handle of horn, - that killed the cock that crowed in the morn, - that wakened the priest all shaven and shorn, - that married the man all tattered and torn, - unto the maiden all forlorn, - that milked the cow with a crumpled horn, - that tossed the dog over the barn, - that worried the cat that killed the rat - that ate the malt that lay in the house - that Jack built. - -The greater part of this piece consists of rhymed verse, and deals with -matters of courtship. The idea of a cock sacrificed on the wedding-day -is certainly heathen in origin, but its introduction forms a new -departure when we come to compare this piece with its foreign parallels -and with the story of _The Old Woman and Her Pig_. These pieces are all -set in the same form, and all introduce a regular sequence of relative -powers. - -_The Old Woman and Her Pig_ was first printed by Halliwell (1842, p. -219). It tells how the woman found sixpence, and how she set out for -market, and bought a pig which on the way back refused to jump over the -stile. In order to break the spell that had fallen on it, she summoned -to her aid: dog--stick--fire--water--ox--butcher--rope--rat--cat--cow. -The cow finally gave the milk required by the cat, which set the other -powers going, and thus enabled the woman to get home that night. -Halliwell was impressed by the antiquity of this sequence, and included -in his collection a translation of a Hebrew chant which has considerable -likeness to the tale of _The Old Woman and Her Pig_. This chant is told -in the first person. It begins:-- - - A kid, a kid my father bought - For two pieces of money, - A kid, a kid. - - Then came the cat and ate the kid, - That my father bought, - For two pieces of money. - A kid, a kid. (1842, p. 6.) - -It further introduces dog--staff--fire--water--ox--butcher--angel of -death--Holy One. - -The Hebrew chant of the kid was printed in Venice as far back as 1609, -and was made the subject of the learned Latin dissertation _De Haedo_ by -Probst von der Hardt in 1727 (R., p. 153). It was again discussed by P. -N. Leberecht in 1731.[51] The chant forms part of the Jewish liturgy, -and is still recited in the original Hebrew or in the vernacular as part -of a religious ceremonial at Easter. Opinions on the origin and the -meaning of the chant differ. One learned rabbi interpreted it as setting -forth how each power in creation is kept within bounds by a power that -stands above it. It teaches how he who goes wrong is at the mercy of one -stronger than himself. But according to another interpretation the -Father who bought the kid was Jehovah himself, the kid was the Hebrew, -the cat represented the Assyrians, the dog the Babylonians, and so -forth; and the whole poem described the position of the Jews at the time -of the Crusades. - - [51] The article by Leberecht is in _Der Christliche Reformator_, - Leipzig, 1731, XVII, 28. - -The Hebrew chant and its relation to _The Old Woman and her Pig_ engaged -the attention of Professor Tylor, who remarked on the solemn ending of -the Hebrew chant, which according to him may incline us to think that we -really have before us this composition in something like its first form. -"If so," he says, "then it follows that our familiar tale of the Old -Woman who couldn't get the kid (_or_ pig) over the stile, must be -considered as a broken-down adaptation of this old Jewish poem."[52] - - [52] Tylor, E. B., _Primitive Culture_, II, 86. - -But the tale of the Old Woman taken in conjunction with _This is the -House that Jack built_ and its numerous foreign parallels, shows that -these sequences of relative powers, far from being broken-down -adaptations, are at least as meaningful as the Hebrew chant. For the -underlying conception in all cases is that a spell has fallen on an -object which man is appropriating to his use. The spell extends to -everything, be it man or beast, that comes within the range of its -influence, and the unmaking of the spell necessitates going back step by -step to the point at which it originated. - -Halliwell compared a piece current in Denmark with _This is the House -that Jack built_:-- - - Der har du det haus som Jacob bygde. - - "Here hast thou the house that Jacob built."[53] - - [53] Halliwell, 1849, p. 6, citing Thiele, II, 3, 146. I cannot - find this book. - -Many other versions of this tale are current in Germany and Scandinavia. -In them it is sometimes a question of a house, sometimes of corn, -oftenest of cutting oats or of garnering pears. The cumulative form is -throughout adhered to. One German piece called _Ist alles verlorn_, "all -is lost," begins:-- - - Es kam eine Maus gegangen - In unser Korneha[)u]s, - Die nahm das Korn gefangen, - In [)u]nserm Korneha[)u]s. - Die Maus das Korn, - Ist alles verlorn - In [)u]nserm Korneha[)u]s. (Sim., p. 256.) - - "There came a mouse into our corn-house, she seized the corn in our - corn-house. The mouse, the corn, now all is lost in our - corn-house." - -The other powers are rat, cat, fox, wolf, bear, man, maid. This piece, -like _This is the House that Jack built_, ends abruptly. - -Among the less primitive variations of the tale is one recorded in -Sonneberg (S., p. 102), and another in the north of France, which both -substitute the name of Peter for that of Jack, that is a Christian name -for a heathen one. In France the piece is called _La Mouche_, literally -"the fly," but its contents indicate that not _mouche_ but the Latin -_mus_ (mouse) was originally meant. The tale departs from the usual -form, and has a refrain:-- - - Voici la maison que Pierre a bâtie, - Il sortait un rat de sa raterie, - Qui fit rentrer la mouch' dans sa moucherie: - Rat à mouche, - Belle, belle mouche - Jamais je n'ai vu si belle mouche. (D.B., p. 116.) - - "This is the house that Peter built. A rat came out of a rat-hole, - and made the fly go into the fly-hole. Rat to fly, lovely fly, - never saw I so lovely a fly." - -The other powers are dog, bear, man, maid, abbot, pope, devil. - -The same tale is told in Austria (V., p. 113), and in Prussia (F., p. -197), where it is called _Das Haus vom hölzernen Mann_, "the house of -the wooden Man." In Prussia it is recited as a game of forfeits. The -sequence of the powers in the one version is house, door, lock, band, -mouse, cat, dog, stick, fire, water, ox, butcher, devil; and in the -other, house, door, lock, band, mouse, cat, huntsman. - -Jack in Germany is called Jockel, Jöggeli, Jokele. _The Master who sent -out Jockel_ is mentioned already in the Gargantua of Fischart, which was -published in 1575 (Chap. XXV.). The name Jack among ourselves is applied -to a person or an object of peculiar serviceableness, as in -Jack-of-all-trades, or boot-jack. But in Germany the expression "to -send Jockel on an errand" implies that this will never get done. - -In Vogtland the current nursery version of this piece begins:-- - - Es schickt der Herr den G[(o]kel 'naus, - Er soll den Haber schneiden. (Du., p. 35.) - - "The master sent out Gokel to cut oats." - -As he failed to come back, dog, fire, water, ox, butcher, hangman, -devil, were sent after him. - -In Swabia Jokele (Br., p. 44), and in Switzerland Joggeli, was sent to -knock off pears on which a spell had fallen. The chant in Zürich has -been traced back to the year 1769, and it begins:-- - - Es ist ein Baum im Gärtle hinne, - d' Birren wänd nüd fallen. - Do schückt de Bur de Joggeli usen - Er soll di Birren schütteln. (R., p. 155.) - - "There is a tree in the garden, its pears will not drop. The - peasant sent out Joggeli to knock them off." - -But the pears refused to be knocked off, and the usual sequence of -powers was sent to secure them. - -The tale of Jack was current in Münster in Westphalia also, where it was -taken over by the Church, and annually recited at the religious -procession which took place on the eve of the feast of St. Lambert, 17 -September. This was done as late as the year 1810 (R., p. 155). The -recitation was followed or accompanied by a dance, the purpose of which -is not recorded. Perhaps the procession stood in relation to the actual -garnering of pears, and the tale was recited in order to secure a good -harvest. In this case not Jack, but _der Jäger_, "the huntsman," was -dispatched to knock the pears off, and the sequence of powers included -dog, stick, fire, water, calf, butcher, hangman, devil. - -This adoption by the Church of the sequence of powers shows that we have -to do with the remains of a heathen ritual, which found its way into a -Christian celebration, as the tale of the kid found its way into the -Easter celebration of the Jewish Church. In both instances the sequence -of relative powers is preserved, and in both it is question of making an -object secure for the use of man. - -The same sequence of powers is preserved also in the traditional game -that is known as _Dump_ among ourselves (1894, I, 117; II, 419), and as -_Club Fist_ in America (N., p. 134). In this game it is also a question -of building a house, and of knocking off pears. The action of the -players, however, stands in no obvious relation to the words that are -used. Sometimes three, sometimes a number of lads, crowd together and -place their fists sideways one on the other, till they form a pile of -clenched hands. The last boy, who has a fist free, knocks off the fists -one by one, saying:-- - - (In Yorkshire) What's this?--(Answer) Dump. - (In America) What's that?--(Answer) A pear. - Take it off or I'll knock it off. - -In Shropshire all sing together:-- - - I've built my house, I've built my wall; - I don't care where my chimneys fall. - -When all the fists are knocked down, the following dialogue ensues:-- - - What's there?--Cheese and bread and a mouldy half-penny. - - Where's my share?--I put it on the shelf, and the cat got it. - - Where's the cat?--She's run nine miles through the wood. - - Where's the wood?--T' fire burnt it. - - Where's the fire?--T' water sleckt it. - - Where's the water?--T' ox drunk it. - - Where's the ox?--T' butcher killed 'em. - - Where's the butcher?--Upon the church-top cracking nuts, and you - may go and eat the shells; and _them as_ speak first shall have - nine nips, nine scratches, and nine boxes on the ear. (1849, p. - 128.) - -Silence falls, all try not to laugh, and he who first allows a word to -escape him, is punished by the others in the methods adopted by -schoolboys. In the Scottish game the punishment is described as "nine -nips, nine nobs, nine double douncornes, and a good blow on the back." - -In France the same game is known as _Le Pied de Boeuf_, "the foot of the -ox," and a scramble of fists starts at the words:-- - - Neuf, je tiens mon pied de boeuf. (Mo., p. 351.) - - "Nine, I hold my ox's foot"; - -the number nine in this case being also mentioned. - -The meting out of punishments by nines goes far back in history. It was -associated with a Yule-tide sport which is still practised in Denmark -and in Schleswig, and is known as _Ballerrune_ or _Balderrune_. Every -member of the assembled company repeated a formula on "Balder Rune and -his wife," and he who made a mistake received nine blows, as in our -game. The custom was explained by the legend that the god Balder, -incensed at his wife's loquacity, chastised her by giving her nine -blows, and ordered that this should be repeated every year, so that -women be reminded that it is their duty to be silent when their husbands -speak (H., p. 44). - -In the game of _Dump_ also, it is the person who speaks first that is -punished, but there is nothing to suggest that this was a woman, for the -game is essentially a boys' game. - -The story of _The Woman and her Pig_ (_or Kid_), like that of Jack, is -told over a wide geographical area. In the Scottish version the woman -lived in a wee house and found two pennies and bought a kid. On coming -home she saw a bush and wished to pull off its berries, and could not. -She set the kid to watch the house, and went to seek the help of dog, -stick, fire, water, ox, axe, smith, rope, mouse, cat, milk, in her hope -of breaking the spell that had fallen on the bush. Each animal or object -refused "to do the next one harm, saying that it never did it any harm -itself"; but the cat finally could not resist the temptation of lapping -the milk (1870, p. 57). Thus the tale introduced a moral element which -is not found elsewhere. - -In Sweden the tale of _The Old Woman and her Pig_ is called _Konen och -Grisen Fick_, "the woman and her pig Fick," and the pig refused to leave -off eating acorns. A similar tale is called _Gossen och Geten Näppa_, -"the lad and the kid Näppa," (1849, p. 6). In Elsass the pig is called -_Schnirrchele_ (St., p. 93), in Transylvania it is _Mischka_ or -_Bitschki_ (Sch., p. 372). And a version from the north of France tells -how _Biquette_ got into a cabbage-patch from which stick, fire, water, -were summoned to expel her. _Biquette_ is described as a kid (D., p. -122). In Languedoc _Biquette_ reappears as _Bouquaire-Bouquil_, who is -furnished with horns and does havoc in a millet-field from which he is -expelled with the help of wolf, dog, stick, fire, water, ox, rope (M. -L., p. 538). In all cases the animal is one that is provided with horns. -Millet is one of the oldest cereals that were cultivated in Europe, the -displacement of which by the cultivation of corn had begun in England -when Pytheas visited these shores in the fourth century B.C. Can the -"malt" of _This is the House that Jack built_ stand for millet? - -A French piece is current in Remiremont which is called _Le Conjurateur -et le Loup_, "the magician and the wolf." It describes the contest -between them, and shows that the making and unmaking of spells is -involved:-- - - L'y a un loup dedans le bois, - Le loup ne veut pas sortir du bois. - Ha, j' te promets, compèr' Brocard, - Tu sortiras de ce lieu-là. (R., p. 152.) - - "There is a wolf in the wood, the wolf will not come out of the - wood. Ha, I promise you, brother Brocard, you will soon come out." - -And the magician summons to his assistance stick, fire, water, calf, -butcher, devil, which help him to expel the wolf. - -Even more primitive than this tale is one current in Languedoc, in which -a spell has fallen on a root or turnip, which is finally raised by the -hog. It begins: "The old woman went into the garden in order to pull out -a turnip. When the old man saw that the old woman did not come back, he -went into the garden and saw the old woman pulling at the turnip. The -old man pulled at the old woman, the old woman pulled at the turnip, but -the turnip stuck fast." They were followed by daughter-in-law, son, man, -maid, and so forth, including the cat and the rat. Finally the hog came -to the rescue. Instead of pulling like the others, he attacked the -turnip from below, and by doing so he succeeded in raising it, otherwise -the spell would continue, "and the root would still be holding fast" (M. -L., p. 541). - -The comparison of these various tales or pieces shows that dog, stick, -fire, water, ox, butcher, form a sequence of powers that was accepted -over a wide geographical area. They were invoked wherever it was -question of breaking a spell that had fallen on a coveted object, the -object including pigs, pears, oats, berries, millet, and roots. These -are products that were prized in Europe from a remote period in -antiquity. As the products are primitive, so probably is the form of -verse in which the story is told of their being made fast. For the same -form of verse is used in a further class of pieces to which we now turn, -and which, by their contents, betray a pre-Christian origin. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -CHANTS OF NUMBERS - - -Among our traditional games, some consist of a dialogue in which the -answer is set in cumulative form. These include the game known as _The -Twelve Days of Christmas_, which was played on Twelfth-Day night by the -assembled company before eating mince-pies and twelfth cake. In the game -of _Twelve Days_ each player in succession repeated the gifts of the -day, and raised his fingers and hand according to the number which he -named. Each answer included the one that had gone before, and forfeits -were paid for each mistake that was made. (1894, II, 315.) - -The oldest printed version of the words used in playing _Twelve Days_ -stands in one of the diminutive toy-books exhibited at South Kensington -Museum by E. Pearson. These words begin:-- - - The first day of Christmas, my true love gave me - A partridge in a pear-tree. - The second day of Christmas, my true love gave me - Two turtle-doves and a partridge in a pear-tree. - -And so forth, enumerating three French hens, four colly birds, five gold -rings, six geese a-laying, seven swans a-swimming, eight maids -a-milking, nine drummers drumming, ten pipers piping, eleven ladies -dancing, twelve lords leaping. - -The same game is played in Scotland, where it is known as _The Yule -Days_, but is carried on to thirteen. - - The king sent his lady on the first Yule day - A papingo-aye [i.e. peacock or parrot] - Who learns my carol and carries it away? - The king sent his lady on the second Yule day - Two partridges and a papingo-aye. (1870, p. 42.) - -On the third day he sent three plovers; on the fourth, a goose that was -grey; on the fifth, three starlings; on the sixth, three goldspinks; on -the seventh, a bull that was brown; on the eighth, three ducks a-merry -laying; on the ninth, three swans a-merry swimming; on the tenth, an -Arabian baboon; on the eleventh, three hinds a-merry dancing; on the -twelfth, two maids a-merry dancing; on the thirteenth three stalks of -corn. - -In Cambresis, in the North of France, the same game is called _Les dons -de l'an_, "the gifts of the year," but the gifts correspond in number -with the number of the day. They are: one partridge, two turtle-doves, -three wood-pigeons, four ducks flying, five rabbits trotting, six hares -a-field, seven hounds running, eight shorn sheep, nine horned oxen, ten -good turkeys, eleven good hams, twelve small cheeses (D. B., II, 125). - -In the West of France the piece is described as a song. It is called _La -foi de la loi_, that is, "the creed of authority," and is sung _avec -solennité_. It begins:-- - - La premièr' parti' d'la foi de la loi, - Dit' la moi, frère Grégoire. - --Un bon farci sans os-- - La deuxième parti' d'la foi de la loi, - Dit' le moi, frère Grégoire - --Deux ventres de veau, - Un bon farci sans os. (B., II, 271.) - - "The first part of the creed of authority, tell it me, Brother - Gregory. A good stuffing without bones. The second part of the - creed of authority ... two breasts of veal." - -And so forth, enumerating three joints of beef, four pig's trotters, -five legs of mutton, six partridges with cabbage, seven spitted rabbits, -eight plates of salad, nine plates of (? _chapitre_), ten full casks, -eleven beautiful full-breasted maidens, twelve knights with their -rapiers. - -The same conceptions underlie a Languedoc chant, in which the numbers -are, however, carried on to fifteen. The gifts in this case are made on -the first fifteen days of the month of May:-- - - Le prumiè del més de mai, - Qu'embouiarei à mai mio. - Uno perdic que bolo, que bolo. (M. L., p. 486.) - - "The first of the month of May, what shall I send to my lady - love?--A partridge that flies and flies." - -And similarly we read of two doves, three white pigeons, four ducks -flying in the air, five rabbits, six hares, seven hunting dogs, eight -white horses, nine horned oxen, ten bleating sheep, eleven soldiers -coming from war, twelve maidens, thirteen white nosegays, fourteen white -loaves, fifteen casks of wine. - -The contents of these chants at first sound like nonsense, but on -looking at them more closely one notes that the gifts which they -enumerate mostly consist of birds and beasts that are conceived as food. -We know that the weather on Twelve Days was carefully observed, since -the weather of the months of the ensuing year was prognosticated from -that of the corresponding day of the twelve.[54] A like conception -perhaps underlies these enumerations of food, which may refer to the -representative sports of the months. - - [54] Frazer, loc. cit., 1900, p. 143; Rolland, _Almanach des - traditions populaires_, 1883, Jan. 1-12. - -The game of _Twelve Days_ in a degraded form is known as _The Gaping -Wide-mouthed Waddling Frog_, in which the crux likewise consists of -answering the question with rapidity and exactness. But words are -purposely chosen that are difficult to enunciate and to remember. The -result is a string of nonsense. The words used in playing _The Gaping -Wide-mouthed Waddling Frog_ were first printed in a toy-book of the -eighteenth century. Persons who are still living remember it in this -form as a Christmas game. As in playing _Twelve Days_, the players sat -in a circle, a dialogue ensued, and the answers were given in -cumulative form. He who made a mistake gave a forfeit. - - Buy this of me:--What is it? - The gaping wide-mouthed waddling frog. - - Buy this of me:--What is it? - Two pudding ends will choke a dog, - With a gaping wide-mouthed waddling frog. - - Buy this of me:--What is it? - Three monkeys tied to a clog, - Two pudding ends will choke a dog, etc. - -The answer to the last question stood as follows:-- - - Twelve huntsmen with horns and hounds, - Hunting over other men's grounds; - Eleven ships sailing o'er the main, - Some bound for France and some for Spain, - I wish them all safe home again; - Ten comets in the sky, - Some low and some high; - Nine peacocks in the air, - I wonder how they all came there, - I do not know and I don't care; - Eight joiners in joiner's hall - Working with their tools and all. - Seven lobsters in a dish, - As fresh as any heart could wish; - Six beetles against the wall [_or_ six spiders in the wall], - Close by an old woman's apple stall; - Five puppies by our bitch Ball - Who daily for their breakfast call; - Four horses stuck in a bog; - Three monkeys tied to a clog; - Two pudding ends would choke a dog; - With a gaping wide-mouthed waddling frog. - -Many rhymes that originated in these nonsense verses have found their -way into nursery collections. Halliwell printed the following lines as a -separate nursery rhyme:-- - - Eight ships on the main, - I wish them all safe back again; - Seven eagles in the air, - I wonder how they all came there; - I don't know, nor I don't care. - Six spiders on the wall, - Close to an old woman's apple stall; - Five puppies in Highgate hall, - Who daily for their breakfast call; - Four mares stuck in a bog, - Three monkeys tied to a log, - Two pudding ends will choke a dog, - With a gaping wide mouthed waddling frog. (1842, p.246.) - -Halliwell also printed some utterly debased rhymes, in which, however, -numbers are still combined with the objects that are named. Among these -rhymes is the following:-- - - One old Oxford ox opening oysters; - Two teetotums totally tired of trying to trot to Tadbury; - Three tall tigers tippling tenpenny tea; - Four fat friars fanning fainting flies; - -And so on to - - Twelve typographical typographers typically translating types. - - (1846, p. 111.) - -Other rhymes of this kind depend for their consistency on alliteration -only, such as:-- - - Robert Rowley rolled a round roll round, - A round roll Robert Rowley rolled round; - Where rolled the round roll Robert Rowley rolled round. - - (1842, p. 128.) - -Robert Rowley is perhaps a name for thunder, since a rhyme recited in -the North of England as a charm against thunder is:-- - - Rowley, Rowley, Rattley-bags; - Take the lasses and leave the lads. (1876, p. 15.) - -Another rhyme of this class begins:-- - - Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper, etc. (1842, p. 129.) - -And the time-honoured rhyme, "When a twister a twisting," etc., has been -traced back by Halliwell to a collection of 1674. This has a French -parallel:-- - - Si un cordonnier accordant veut accorder sa corde, etc. - -I do not know if the English or the French version is the older one. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -CHANTS OF THE CREED - - -The game of _Twelve Days_, especially in one French version, shows that -instruction was conveyed by the cumulative mode of recitation. There are -many pieces enlarging on matters of belief--Hebrew, Christian, -Druidical, and heathen--which in the same way associate numbers with -objects. The comparison of these pieces suggests that they are all -derived from one original source. They may fitly be termed Chants of the -Creed. - -One of these cumulative chants is included in the Hebrew service for the -night of the Passover, which is called _Echod mi jodea_, "He who -knows."[55] It is recited to a monotonous tune after the return of the -family from celebration, either by the master of the house or by the -assembled company. The dialogue form, I am told, is no longer observed. -The piece begins:-- - - Who knoweth One?--I, saith Israel, know One. - One is God, who is over heaven and earth. - Who knoweth Two?--I, saith Israel, know Two. - Two tables of the covenant; but One is our God who is over the heavens - and the earth.... - - [55] Tylor, E. B., _Primitive Culture_, I, 87, citing Mendes, - _Service for the First Nights of the Passover_, 1862. - -And so forth to the last verse, which is as follows:-- - - Who knoweth thirteen?--I, saith Israel, know thirteen: Thirteen - divine attributes--twelve tribes--eleven stars--ten - commandments--nine months preceding childbirth--eight days - preceding circumcision--seven days of the week--six books of the - Mishnah--five books of the Law--four matrons--three patriarchs--two - tables of the covenant--but One is our God, who is over the heavens - and the earth. - -The same chant adapted to matters of Christian belief, but carried only -from one to twelve, is current also in Latin, Italian, Spanish, French, -German, and Danish. Among ourselves it is set as a song. But the objects -which are associated with the numbers are not uniformly the same, and -this renders it probable that the chants were composed independently of -one another. This view is supported by the fact that some of the items -that are named in the Christian chants are not Christian, and are, in -fact, identical with the items named in the entirely heathen chants. - -The Latin version of the Chant of the Creed has been traced back to the -second half of the sixteenth century. Its words were set to music in a -motet for thirteen voices by Theodor Clinius (d. 1602), a Venetian by -birth (E., p. 408). Another Latin version of the chant goes back to -1650. The chant begins:-- - - Dic mihi quid unus? - - --Unus est Jesus Christus [_or_ Deus] qui regnat in aeternum [_or_ - coelis]. (A., I, 420.) - - "Tell me, what is One? One is Jesus Christ [_or_ God] who reigns in - eternity [_or_ in heaven]." - -The answers further explain two as the testaments, three as the -patriarchs, four as the evangelists, five as the books of Moses, six as -the water-jugs of Cana in Galilee, seven as the gifts of the spirit -(_or_ the candelabra lit before God), eight as the beatitudes, nine as -the orders (_or_ choirs of the angels), ten as the commandments, eleven -as the disciples (_or_ stars seen by Joseph), twelve as the articles of -the faith (_or_ the apostles). - -The Chant of the Creed as recited in Spain (A., II, 142) is set in the -same form, and explains the numbers in much the same manner, except that -six are the days of the Creation, and eleven are eleven thousand -virgins. Another version (A., II, 104) associates the Virgin with one, -the three Maries with three, while nine, like the Hebrew chant, -indicates the months of expectancy of the Virgin. In a Portuguese -version also, nine are the months of Christ's becoming, and eleven are -eleven thousand virgins (A., II, 102). - -Throughout Italy and in Sicily the Chant of the Creed is known as _Le -dodici parole della Verità_, "the twelve words of truth." They are -generally put into the lips of the popular saint, Nicolas of Bari, who -is said to have defeated the evil intentions of Satan by teaching them. -These Italian chants for the most part agree with the Latin chant -already cited, except that two in the Abruzzi is associated with the sun -and the moon; five is explained as the wounds of Jesus _or_ of St. -Francis, and eleven stands for the articles of the Catholic faith (A., -I, 419; II, 97). - -In Denmark the Chant of the Creed is put into the lips of St. Simeon, -and begins:-- - - Stat op, Sante Simeon, og sig mig, hvad een er? - - "Stand forth, St. Simeon, and tell me, what is one." - -The explanations in this case are strictly Christian, Jesus Christ -standing for One. The souls saved by God from the ark (_sjaele frelste -Gud udi Arken_) stand for eight (Gt., II, 68). - -In Languedoc also the chant is current in a Christian adaptation which -agrees with the Latin, except that the Trinity stands for three; the -wounds of Jesus, as in the Italian chant, stand for five; the lights in -the temple stand for six; and the joys of our Lady stand for seven (M. -L., p. 478). - -From Europe the Chant of the Creed has been carried to Canada, where a -version is sung in French to a monotonous tune in four beats at a formal -kind of dance, called a _ronde religieuse_--a religious round. To this -dance six couples stand up; each dancer represents a number. To the -sound of their singing they move in a chain, each person turning first -to the right, then to the left. When number six is reached in singing, -and every time that six recurs in the chant, the dancing stops, and to -the words "_six urnes de vin remplies_," the dancers who represent even -numbers turn first to the right, then to the left, and make a deep bow, -while those that represent uneven numbers perform the same ceremony the -other way about (G., p. 298). Then the dancing is resumed. This figure, -judging from the description, exactly corresponds to the Grand Chain in -Lancers, except that six couples dance instead of four or eight. - -In the Canadian chant the explanations of the numbers are all Christian, -except that for eleven they say eleven thousand virgins, which agrees -with the virgins of the Spanish and Portuguese chants. These eleven -thousand virgins are mentioned also in a version of the chant current in -Zürich, which, unlike the others, carries the numbers to fifteen. It -enumerates Christian matters similar to those already named as far as -nine choirs of angels, and further associates ten with thousands of -knights, eleven with thousands of virgins, the apostles with twelve, the -disciples with thirteen, the helpers in need (_Nothelfer_) with -fourteen, the mysteries with fifteen. This chant is set in the old way -of question and answer, and the answers are recited in cumulative form -(R., p. 268). - -The Chant of the Creed in a late development is preserved in the form of -a religious poem among ourselves which is called _A New Dyall_. Two -versions of it are preserved in the MS. Harleian 5937, which dates from -about the year 1625. They have been printed by F. S. A. Sandys among his -_Christmas Carols_. The refrain of the one recalls the celebration of -Twelve Days:-- - - In those twelve days, in those twelve days, let us be glad, - For God of His power hath all things made. - -In both pieces the dialogue form is dropped, and there is no attempt at -cumulation. - - One God, one baptism, and one faith, - One truth there is the Scripture saith; - Two Testaments, the old and new, - We do acknowledge to be true; - Three persons are in Trinity, - Which make one God in Unity; - Four sweet evangelists there are - Christ's birth, life, death, which do declare; - Five senses like five kings, maintain - In every man a several reign; - Six days to labour is not wrong, - For God Himself did work so long; - Seven liberal arts has God sent down - With divine skill man's soul to crown; - Eight in Noah's ark alive were found, - When (in a word) the World lay drowned. - Nine Muses (like the heaven's nine spheres) - With sacred tunes entice our ears; - Ten statutes God to Moses gave - Which, kept or broke, do spoil or save; - Eleven with Christ in heaven do dwell, - The twelfth for ever burns in hell; - Twelve are attending on God's Son; - Twelve make our Creed, "the dyall's done."[56] - - [56] Sandys, F. S. A.: _Christmas Carols_, p. 59 ff. - -The objects named in this poem agree in most cases with those of the -Latin chant, but six, there associated with the water-jugs in Cana of -Galilee, is here associated with the days of the Creation, which -correspond with the six days of the Creation of the Spanish Chant of the -Creed, and with the six working days of the week of a heathen dialogue -story to which we shall return later. The number eight is here -associated with the persons saved in the ark of Noah, as in the Chant of -the Creed which is current in Denmark. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -HEATHEN CHANTS OF THE CREED - - -We now turn to those versions of the Chant of the Creed which are -heathen in character. Again we have versions before us in the vernacular -of Brittany, Spain, Scotland, and several set in the form of songs that -are current in different parts of England. - -The most meaningful and elaborate versions of the chant come from -Brittany. One is called _Les vêpres des grenouilles_. It is set in the -form of instruction, and begins:-- - - Can caer, Killoré. Iolic, petra faot dide? - Caera traïc a gement orizoud ti. (L., I, p. 95.) - - "Chant well, Killore. Iolic, what shall I sing?--The most beautiful - thing thou knowest." - -And it enumerates, "One silver ring to Mary, two silver rings, three -queens in a palace, four acolytes, five black cows, six brothers and -six sisters, seven days and seven moons, eight beaters of the air, nine -armed sons, ten ships on the shore, eleven sows, twelve small swords." -This combination of objects with numbers from one to twelve agrees most -closely with the enumeration of the game of _Twelve Days_. - -The longer version of the Breton chant was interpreted by its editor as -a chant of instruction, and he claimed for it a Druidical origin. It -begins:-- - - Beautiful child of the Druid, answer me right well. - - --What would'st thou that I should sing?-- - - Sing to me the series of number one, that I may learn it this very - day. - - --There is no series for one, for One is Necessity alone, the - father of death, there is nothing before and nothing after. - -And we read of two as oxen yoked to a cart; of three as the beginning, -the middle, and the end of the world for man and for the oak; also of -the three kingdoms of Merlin; of four as the stones of Merlin for -sharpening the swords of the brave; of five as the terrestrial zones, -the divisions of time, the rocks on one sister (_sic_); of six as babes -of wax quickened into life through the power of the moon; of seven as -the suns, the moons, and the planets, including _La Poule_ (i.e. the -constellation) of Charles's Wain; of eight as the winds that blow, eight -fires with the great fire lighted in the month of May on the War -Mountain; of nine as little white hands near the tower of Lezarmeur, and -as maidens who groan; of nine also as maidens who dance with flowers in -their hair and in white robes around the well by the light of the moon; -'the wild sow and her young at the entrance to their lair, are snorting -and snarling, snarling and snorting; little one, little one, hurry to -the apple-tree, the wild boar will instruct you'; of ten as the enemy's -boats on the way from Nantes, 'woe to you, woe to you, men of Vannes'; -of eleven as priests 'coming from Vannes with broken swords and -blood-stained garments, and crutches of hazel-wood, of three hundred -only these eleven ones are left'; of twelve as months and signs, -'Sagittarius, the one before the last, lets fly his pointed arrow. The -twelve signs are at war. The black cow with a white star on her forehead -rushes from the forest (_des despouillés_) pierced by a pointed arrow, -her blood flows, she bellows with raised head. The trumpet sounds, fire -and thunder, rain and wind. No more, no more, there is no further -series.' (H. V., p. 1.) - -The contents of this chant in several particulars agree with the shorter -one. Seven stands for days, eight for winds, and ten for boats. - -A similar chant comes from Spain, which gives the answers with a curious -variation. For in this case most of the numbers are explained as one -less of one kind and one more of another. Thus one stands for the Wheel -of Fortune; two for one clock and bell; three for the handle of a mortar -(? _la mano del almiles_); four for three basins and one dish; five for -three jars of red wine and two of white (_or_ for the wounds of St. -Francis); six for the loves you hold (_amores que teneis_); seven for -six cassocks and a cape; eight for seven butchers and one sheep; nine -for eight hounds and one hare; ten for the toes; eleven for ten horsemen -and one leader (_breva_, ? acorn); twelve are probably pigs. - -Exactly as in the other chants the numbers are set in question and -answer, the answer being in cumulative form:-- - - Quién me dirá que no es una?-- - La rued de la fortuna. (Ma., p. 68.) - - "Who will tell me what is one?--One is the Wheel of Fortune," and - so forth. - -In this Spanish version there is the alternative of associating five -with the jars of wine of Cana or with the wounds of St. Francis, both of -which are Christian conceptions that occur in the Christian chants--the -wounds of St. Francis in the Italian chant, and the jugs of wine, six in -number, in the chant as it is sung and danced in Canada. Christian -conceptions are also introduced into some of the numerous versions of -the heathen Chants of the Creed that are current among ourselves, but -they are relatively few, and by their nature suggest a change from -heathen to Christian matters of belief. - -The oldest version of this chant was printed by Chambers from an -unpublished collection of songs by P. Buchan. It is in dialogue form, -and, as in the case of the Druidical chants, its words indicate a -teacher who is instructing his pupils:-- - - 1. We will a' gae sing, boys, - Where will we begin, boys? - We'll begin the way we should, - And we'll begin at ane, boys. - - O, what will be our ane, boys? - O, what will be our ane, boys? - --My only ane she walks alane, - And evermair has dune, boys. - - 2. Now we will a' gae sing, boys; - Where will we begin, boys? - We'll begin where we left aff, - And we'll begin at twa, boys. - - What will be our twa, boys? - --'Twa's the lily and the rose - That shine baith red and green, boys. - My only ane she walks alane, - And evermair has dune, boys. - - 3. Now we will a' gae sing, boys, ... etc. - What will be our three, boys? - Three, three thrivers ... etc. (1870, p. 44.) - - Four's the gospel-makers, five's the hymnlers o' my bower, six the - echoing waters, seven's the stars in heaven, eight's the table - rangers, nine's the muses of Parnassus, ten's the commandments, - eleven's maidens in a dance, twelve's the twelve apostles. - -Further variations of this chant have been recovered in Dorsetshire, -Cornwall, Derbyshire, Norfolk, and elsewhere. Many of them at the close -of each line insert the interjection _O_ in the place of the word -_boys_. This drew the suggestion from Dr. Jessopp that the song was -connected with the so-called _Seven great Os_, a song sung at vespers -during Advent before the _Magnificat_ from 16 December to Christmas Eve. -It took its name from the first line in the song, which begins _O -Sapientia_. - -The Dorsetshire version is still sung at Eton, and is known as "Green -grow the rushes oh," the words that form the chorus:-- - - Solo: I'll sing you one oh! - - Chorus: Green grow the rushes oh! - What is your one oh? - - Solo: One is one and all alone - And ever more shall be so.[57] - - [57] Byrne, S. R., _Camp Choruses_, 1891, p. 91. - -The same order is observed for the next verse, the soloist explaining -two, the chorus adding one, and so forth. In this version we have two -lily-white boys, three rivals, four gospel makers, five symbols at your -door, six proud walkers, seven stars in the sky, eight bold rainers, -nine bright shiners, ten commandments, eleven for the eleven that went -up to heaven, twelve for the twelve apostles. - -A Chant of the Creed is sung in Cornwall by the sailors, and begins:-- - - Come and I will sing you! - --What will you sing me? - I will sing you one, oh! - --What is your one, oh! - Your one is all alone, - And ever must remain so. - -The explanations which follow are very corrupt. Two are lily-white maids -clothed all in green, oh!; three are bright shiners; four are -gospel-makers; five are the ferrymen in a boat and one of them a -stranger; six is the cheerful waiter; seven are the stars in the sky; -eight are the archangels; nine are the bold rainers; ten are the -commandments; eleven went up to heaven; twelve are the apostles.[58] - - [58] Lang, A., "At the Sign of the Ship," in _The Gentleman's - Magazine_, January, 1889, p. 328. - -In Derbyshire the chant is associated with the harvest festival, and -takes the form of a drinking song. It begins with three, but the -explanations of one and two are preserved in the last verse, in which -the song is carried back to its real beginning:-- - - Plenty of ale to-night, my boys, and then I will sing you. - What will you sing?--I'll sing you three oh. - What is the three O?... - -The last verse enumerates:--Twelve apostles; eleven archangels; ten -commandments; nine bright shiners; eight, the Gabriel riders; seven -golden stars in heaven; six came on the board; five by water; four -Gospel rhymers; three threble thribers; two lily-white maids and one was -dressed in green O.[59] - - [59] Addy, S. O., "Two Relics of English Paganism," in _The - Gentleman's Magazine_, July, 1890, p. 46. - -This version of the chant was sung or recited at harvest-time in Norfolk -also, and began:-- - - A: I'll sing the one O. - B: What means the one O? - A: When the one is left alone, No more can be seen O! - C: I'll sing the two Os. - D: What means the two Os? - - Two's the lily-white boys--three's the rare O--four's the gospel - makers--five's the thimble in the bowl--six is the - provokers--seven's the seven stars in the sky--eight is the bright - walkers--nine's the gable rangers--ten's the ten - commandments--'leven's the 'leven evangelists--twelve's the twelve - apostles.[60] - - [60] Jessopp, "A Song in Arcady," in _Longman's Magazine_, June, - 1889, p. 187. - -The version current in Herefordshire is preserved as far as number eight -only:-- - - Eight was the crooked straight, - Seven was the bride of heaven, - Six was the crucifix, - Five was the man alive, - Four was the lady's bower [_or_ lady bird, _or_ lady, _or_ lady's - birth?], - Three was the Trinity, - Two was the Jewry, - One was God to the righteous man - To save our souls to rest. Amen.[61] - - [61] From Stoke Prior, Herefordshire, in Addy, S. O., _Household - Tales and Traditional Remains_, 1895, p. 150. - -Some of our nursery rhymes which are nonsensical represent these lines -in a further degradation:-- - - One, two, three, four, five, - I caught a hare alive; - Six, seven, eight, nine, ten, - I let her go again. (_c._ 1783, p. 48.) - -And the following, in which "sticks" takes the place of _crucifix_, -while "straight" recalls _crooked straight_:-- - - One, two, buckle my shoe, - Three, four, shut the door, - Five six, pick up sticks, - Seven, eight, lay them straight. (1810, p. 30). - -The rhyme is sometimes continued as far as twenty:-- - - Nine, ten, a good fat hen, - Eleven, twelve, who shall delve? _etc._ - -The tabulation of the explanations of numbers of these various songs -will give an idea of the degradation to which words are liable, when -they have lost their meaning. It shows also that some information can be -recovered from comparing what is apparently nonsensical. - - _One._--Scotland: One all alone. - Dorset: One is one and all alone. - Cornwall: Is all alone and ever must remain so. - Derbyshire: One was dressed in green O. - Norfolk: One left alone no more can be seen O. - Hereford: One was God to the righteous man. - - _Two._--Sc.: Lilly and rose. - Dt.: Lilly white boys. - C.: Lilly white maids clothed in green. - Db.: Lilly white maids. - N.: Lily white boys. - H.: Jewry. - - _Three._--Sc.: Thrivers. - Dt.: Rivals. - C.: Bright shiners. - Db.: Threble thribers. - N.: Rare O. - H.: Trinity. - - _Four._--Sc.: Gospelmakers. - Dt. " - C. " - Db.: Gospelrhymers. - N.: Gospelmakers. - H.: Lady's bower. - - _Five._--Sc.: Hymnlers of my bower. - Dt.: Symbols at your door. - C.: Ferrymen in a boat and one a stranger. - Db.: By water. - N.: Thimble in a bowl. - H.: Man alive. - - _Six._--Sc.: Echoing waters. - Dt.: Proud walkers. - C.: Cheerful waiter. - Db.: Came on board. - N.: Provokers. - H.: Crucifix. - - _Seven._--Sc.: Stars in heaven. - Dt.: Stars in the sky. - C. " " - Db.: Golden stars. - N.: Stars in the sky. - H.: Bride of heaven. - - _Eight._--Sc.: Table rangers. - Dt.: Bold rainers. - C.: Archangels. - Db.: Gabriel riders. - N.: Bright walkers. - H.: Crooked straight. - - _Nine._--Sc.: Muses. - Dt.: Bright shiners. - C.: Bold rainers. - Db.: Bright shiners. - N.: Gable rangers. - - _Ten._--Sc.: Commandments. - Dt. " - C. " - Db. " - N. " - - _Eleven._--Sc.: Maidens in a dance. - Dt.: Went up to heaven. - C. " " - Db.: Archangels. - N.: Evangelists. - - _Twelve._--Sc.: Apostles. - Dt. " - C. " - Db. " - N. " - -From this table we see that the _thrivers_ of Scotland are _threble -thribers_ in Derbyshire. These, according to the explanation of Addy, -are the three Norns or white ladies,[62] and this view is supported by -the _three queens_ of the one Breton chant, which probably suggested -_The Three Maries_ of the one Spanish version. - - [62] Addy, S. O., loc. cit., p. 150. - -Again, the _table rangers_ of the Scottish song are _Gabriel riders_, -otherwise known as _Gabriel hounds_ or _gabbe ratches_ in Derbyshire. -_Gabriel hounds_ is a word applied to the winds. The winds are also -associated with eight in the one Breton chant. In Cornwall _bright -shiners_ are associated with three, but in Dorsetshire and Derbyshire -_bright shiners_ are associated with nine, and nine is the number of -maidens in one Breton chant also. We are reminded of the priestesses who -were devoted to religious rites on some island of the Atlantic, perhaps -Ushant, off Brittany, when Pytheas, in the fourth century before Christ, -visited these shores. Nine of them attended a famous oracle, and -professed to control the weather. - -The interest of these chants is increased when we compare them with what -folk-lore preserves on the subject. The followers of Mohammed tell a -tale which describes how a rich man promised a poor man his ox if he -could explain to him the numbers, and the following dialogue ensued:-- - - What is one and not two?--God is one. - - What is two and not three?--Day and night [_or_ the sun and the - moon]. - -And further: three for divorces from one's wife; four for the Divine -books (i.e. the Old and New Testament, the Psalter and the Koran); five -for the states of Islam; six for the realms in Nizam; seven for the -heavens that surround the throne of God (A., II, 230). - -The same story in a more primitive form is told in Ditmarschen, a -district bordering on Holstein, in which also the numbers are carried to -seven only. But in this case a peasant's property stood forfeited to the -"little man in grey," unless he found an explanation to the numbers. He -despaired of doing so, when Christ intervened and instructed him as -follows:-- - -One stands for wheelbarrow; two stands for a cart; three for a trivet; -four for a waggon; five stands for the fingers of the hand; six for the -working days of the week; seven for the stars of the Great Bear. And the -peasant remained in the possession of his goods (R., p. 137). - -More primitive still is the story as told in Little Russia. In this case -a man bartered away his soul for six pigs. After three years the devil -came to fetch him. But the devil was met by an old, old man who -successfully cheated him of his due. The dialogue between them was: "Who -is in the house?--One and not one (that is two). And how about two?--It -is well to thrash two at a time. It is well to travel three at a time. -He who has four has a waggon. He who has five sons has company. Six pigs -the devil had, but he left them with a poor man, and now he has lost -them for ever" (A., II, 227). - -The comparison of these stories with the Chants of the Creed shows that -the dialogue stories are older in contents, and probably in form also, -than the cumulative pieces. In both, superhuman power is conveyed by -associating numbers with objects. This power in the dialogue pieces is -attributed to the "little man in grey" of the German piece, who may be -intended for Death, and to the devil in the Russian piece. In the -pieces where numbers are associated with Christian articles of belief, -the superhuman power is attributed to a popular saint, viz. St. Simeon -in Denmark and St. Nicholas in Italy, who make use of their power to -overcome Satan. - -The dialogue stories explain the numbers only as far as six or seven. -This in itself indicates that they are relatively early. Some of the -explanations they contain reappear in the cumulative Chants of the -Creed, both in their Christian and in their heathen variations. Thus the -"one wheel" of the wheelbarrow in the German dialogue story, reappears -as the Wheel of Fortune in the Spanish chant, and as the "One that walks -alone" of the Scottish chant. Perhaps this idea underlies the one O, or -circle of our late English songs also. Two in the dialogue story is -explained as a cart; one Breton Chant of the Creed associates two with -an ox-cart also. In the Mohammedan dialogue story two is explained as -the sun and moon, and this explanation reappears in the Christian chant -as sung in the Abruzzi. Six, which the German dialogue story explains -as the working days of the week, has the same meaning in our song of -the _New Dyall_. Seven, which the German dialogue story associates with -the constellation of Charles's Wain, reappears as _La Poule_ in the -Breton Chant of the Creed, as seven bright shiners in our English songs, -and as the stars seen by Joseph in the Latin Chant. - -These points of likeness cannot be due to mere chance; they indicate a -relationship between all the pieces which associate objects with -numbers. There has been some discussion as to which Chant of the Creed -has the greater claim to priority--whether the Breton was based on the -Christian, or the Christian on the Hebrew, and how these stand in -relation to the various heathen chants. But the analysis of these pieces -renders it probable that they are all derived from an earlier prototype, -and this prototype is perhaps to be sought in the dialogue stories. For -in the Chants of the Creed the explanations of the numbers are often -abstract in meaning, whereas in the dialogue pieces they are simple -objects, mostly wheels or circles, which may well have appeared magical -in themselves to the primitive mind. Again, the purpose of the Chants -of the Creed is to convey religious instruction as a protection against -the devil, while in the dialogue stories in the last instance the theme -is the acquisition of pigs, and pigs were esteemed valuable possessions -from a remote period of antiquity. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -SACRIFICIAL HUNTING - - -Many nursery rhymes and pieces relate to sacrificial hunting. This -hunting goes back to the time when certain animals were looked upon as -tabu in that they were generally held in reverence, and ill-luck befell -him who wittingly or unwittingly did them harm. At the same time one -animal of the kind was periodically slain. It was actually killed, but -its spirit was held to be incarnate in other creatures of its kind, and -it therefore continued to be spoken of as alive. - -The custom of killing the divine animal belongs to an early stage of -social evolution, since it stands in no relation to agriculture, and -perhaps took rise before men tilled the soil. The animal that was -slaughtered was generally looked upon as the representative of a certain -clan, or as constituting the bond between a number of kinsmen.[63] - - [63] Frazer, J. G., _The Golden Bough_, 1900, II, 442 ff. - -Among the creatures that were sacrificiallybasiliskost hunted in -different parts of Western Europe were a number of small birds. Many of -our nursery pieces relate to the hunting of the wren. A peculiar -importance was attached to this bird from a remote period in antiquity, -possibly on account of the golden crest worn by one kind of these birds. -This importance was expressed by the term "little king." In Greek the -wren was [Greek: basiliskos], in Latin he was _regulus_ or _rex avium_. -In France he is _roitelet_; in Italy he is _reatino_; in Spain he is -_reyezuolo_; in Germany he is _zaunkönig_; in Wales he is _bren_, a word -allied to our wren. The sacrifice of a bird that was so highly esteemed, -must have a deeper significance. Possibly his sacrifice was accepted in -the place of the periodical sacrifice of the real king, a primitive -custom which dates far back in history. If so, the practice of slaying -the wren represents the custom of killing the king "of the woods" at a -later stage of development. - -The designation of king as applied to the wren naturally called for an -explanation. It was accounted for by the story according to which the -birds challenged one another as to who could fly highest. The eagle flew -higher than the other birds, but the diminutive wren hid beneath his -wing, and, being carried up by the eagle, started on his own flight when -the eagle tired, and so proved his superiority (Ro., II, 293). The story -dates from the period when cunning was esteemed higher than brute force, -and when cheating was accepted as a legitimate way of showing one's -powers. Among the fairy tales of Grimm one tells how the wren, whose -young had been spoken of disrespectfully by the bear, challenged the -four-footed beasts of the forest, and by a similar strategem proved his -superiority over them also (No. 152). Thus the kingship of the wren -extended to the four-footed as well as to the feathered tribes. - -The lines that celebrate the _Hunting of the Wren_ are included in -several of the oldest nursery collections. They depend for their -consistency on repetition; there is no attempt at cumulation. In the -collection of 1744 the piece stands as follows:-- - -I - - We will go to the wood, says Robbin to Bobbin, - We will go to the wood, says Richard to Robbin, - We will go to the wood, says John and alone, - We will go to the wood, says everyone. - -II - - We will shoot at a wren, says Robbin to Bobbin, - We will shoot at a wren, says Richard to Robbin, etc. - -III - - She's down, she's down, says Robbin to Bobbin, etc. - -IV - - How shall we get her home, says Robbin to Bobbin, etc. - -V - - We will hire a cart, says Robbin to Bobbin, etc. - -VI - - Then hoist, hoist, says Robbin to Bobbin, etc. - -VII - - She's up, she's up, says Robbin to Bobbin, etc. - -In the collection of 1783 there is an additional verse:-- - - So they brought her away after each pluck'd a feather, - And when they got home shar'd the booty together. - - (_c._ 1783, p. 20.) - -Another version of this chant from Scotland is included in Herd's -collection of songs, which goes back to 1776.[64] In this the wren "is -slayed," "conveyed home in carts and horse," and is got in by "driving -down the door cheeks." The characters in this case are Fozie Mozie, -Johnie Rednosie, Foslin 'ene, and brethren and kin. The song ends:-- - -VIII - - I'll hae a wing, quo' Fozie Mozie, - I'll hae anither, quo' Johnie Rednosie, - I'll hae a leg, quo' Foslin 'ene, - And I'll hae another, quo' brither and kin. - - [64] Herd, David, _Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs_, reprint, - 1869, II, 210. - -In the toy-book literature of the eighteenth century I have come across -the expression, "They sang the Fuzzy Muzzy chorus," which may be related -to these names. - -Another variation of the chant sung in Carmarthenshire[65] is set in the -form of a dialogue, and the fact is insisted on that the hunt shall be -carried out in the old way in preference to the new:-- - - [65] Mason, M. H., _Nursery Rhymes and Country Songs_, 1877, p. - 47. - -I - - O, where are you going, says Milder to Malder, - O, I cannot tell, says Festel to Fose, - We're going to the woods, says John the Red Nose, - We're going to the woods, says John the Red Nose. - - -II - - O, what will you do there? says Milder to Malder.... - | We'll shoot the Cutty Wren, says John the Red Nose. | - -III - - O, how will you shoot her.... - | With cannons and guns, _etc._ | - -IV - - O, that will not do ... - | With arrows and bows, _etc._ | - -V - - O, how will you bring her home.... - | On four strong men's shoulders, _etc._ | - -VI - - O, that will not do ... - | In waggons and carts, _etc._ | - -VII - - O, what will you cut her up with?... - | With knives and forks, _etc._ | - -VIII - - O, that will not do ... - | With hatchets and cleavers, _etc._ | - -IX - - O, how will you boil her?... - | In kettles and pots, _etc._ | - -X - - O, that will not do ... - | In cauldrons and pans, _etc._ | - -XI - - O, who'll have the spare ribs, says Milder to Malder, - O, I cannot tell, says Festel to Fose, - We'll give them to the poor, says John the Red Nose, - We'll give them to the poor, says John the Red Nose. - -Further variations of the chant have been recovered from the Isle of Man -and from Ireland, where the hunt is kept up to this day. In the Isle of -Man it used to take place on 24 December, though afterwards on St. -Stephen's Day, that is 27 December, which according to the old reckoning -was the beginning of the New Year.[66] On this day people left the -church at midnight and then engaged in hunting the wren. When the bird -was secured, it was fastened to a long pole with its wings extended, and -it was carried about in procession to the singing of the chant:-- - - We hunted the wren for Robin the Bobbin. - - [66] Waldron, _Description of the Isle of Man_, reprint 1865, p. - 49; also Train, T., _History of the Isle of Man_, 1845, II, 126. - -This chant further describes that the bird was hunted with sticks and -stones, a cart was hired, he was brought home, he was boiled in the -brewery-pan, he was eaten with knives and forks, the king and the queen -dined at the feast, and the pluck went to the poor. - -The behaviour of the huntsmen was not, however, in keeping with these -words; for the bearers of the wren, after making the circuit, laid it on -a bier and carried it to the parish churchyard, where it was buried with -the utmost solemnity, and dirges were sung over it in the Manx language, -which were called the knell of the wren. The company then formed a -circle outside the churchyard and danced to music. - -In the middle of the nineteenth century the wren was still hunted in the -Isle of Man and was carried by boys from door to door, suspended by the -legs in the centre of two hoops. These crossed each other at right -angles and were decorated with evergreens and ribbons. The boys recited -the chant. In return for a coin they gave a feather of the wren, so that -before the end of the day the bird hung featherless. A superstitious -value was attached to these feathers, for the possession of one of them -was considered an effective preservative from shipwreck during the -coming year among the sailors. At this time the bird was no longer -buried in the churchyard, but on the seashore or in some waste place. - -The hunt in the Isle of Man was accounted for by the legend that in -former times a fairy of uncommon beauty exerted such influence over the -male population of the island that she induced them by her sweet voice -to follow her footsteps, till by degrees she led them into the sea, -where they perished. At last a knight-errant sprang up, who laid a plot -for her destruction, which she escaped at the last moment by taking the -form of a wren. But a spell was cast upon her by which she was condemned -on every succeeding New Year's Day to reanimate the same form, with the -definite sentence that she must ultimately perish by human hand. In this -form the legend is told by Train. Waldron relates the same story, which -explained why the female sex are now held of little account in the -island, but the fairy according to him was transformed into a bat. - -In Ireland also the wren was generally hunted during the eighteenth -century, and continues to be hunted in Leinster and in Connaught, but I -have come across no chant of the hunt. The bird was slain by the -peasants, and was carried about hung by the leg inside two crossed -hoops, and a custom rhyme was sung which began:-- - - The wren, the wren, the king of all birds, - Was caught St. Stephen's Day in the furze; - Although he's little, his family's great, - Then pray, gentlefolks, give him a treat. (1849, p. 166.) - -The bird was slain, but it was not therefore dead. This is conveyed by -the tale told in the Isle of Man, and by the following custom observed -in Pembrokeshire on 6 January, that is on Twelfth Day. On this day one -or several wrens were secured in a small house or cage, sometimes the -stable lantern, which was decorated with ribbons and carried from house -to house while the following lines were sung:-- - - Joy, health, love, and peace, - Be to you in this place. - By your leave we will sing - Concerning _our king_: - Our king is well drest, - In silks of the best, - With his ribbons so rare - No king can compare. - _In his coach he does ride_ - With a great deal of pride - And with _four footmen_ - To wait upon him. - We were four at watch, - And all nigh of a match; - And with powder and ball - We fired at his hall. - We have travell'd many miles, - Over hedges and stiles, - To find you this king - Which we now to you bring. - Now Christmas is past, - Twelfth Day is the last. - Th' Old Year bids adieu; - Great joy to the new. (1876, p. 35.) - -On grouping together these various pieces, we are struck by their -likeness, and by the antiquity of their allusions. The bird was usually -slain with stones and sticks, which are among the most primitive -weapons. In Wales _bows and arrows_, which are old also, were declared -preferable to _cannons and guns_. In Wales the bird was cut up with -_hatchets and cleavers_ in preference to _knives and forks_; it was -boiled in the _brewery pan_, or in _cauldrons and pans_, in preference -to _kettles and pots_; and it was conveyed about in a _waggon or cart_ -in preference to being _carried on four men's shoulders_. Sometimes the -bird was plucked. Finally it was cut up in a sacrificial manner; one -wing--another--one leg--another--and the spare ribs or the pluck, as the -least valuable part of the feast, went to the poor. - -The representative huntsmen in England are Robbin, Bobbin, Richard, and -John-all-alone. In Scotland they are Fozie-Mozie, Johnie Rednosie, and -Foslin, besides "the brethren and kin." In Wales they are Milder, -Malder, Festel, Fose, and John the Rednose. Of these characters only -Robin and Bobbin (the names are sometimes run together) and Richard, -reappear in other nursery pieces. In the oldest collection of 1744 stand -the lines:-- - - Robbin and Bobbin, two great belly'd men, - They ate more victuals than three-score men. (1744, p. 25.) - -These powers of eating perhaps refer to the first share of these -characters at the feast. They are further dwelt on in the following -nursery rhyme:-- - - Robin the Bobbin, the big-headed hen [_or_ ben] - He eat more meat than four-score men. - He eat a cow, he eat a calf, - He eat a butcher and a half; - He eat a church, he eat a steeple, - He eat the priest and all the people. (_c._ 1783, p. 43.) - -To which some collections add:-- - - And yet he complained that his belly was not full. - -Other pieces dilate on Robin and Richard as lazy in starting, and on -Robin, whose efforts as a huntsman were attended with ill luck:-- - - Robin and Richard were two pretty men, - They lay in bed till the clock struck ten: - Then up starts Robin, and looks at the sky, - Oh! brother Richard, the sun's very high. - You go before, with the bottle and bag, - And I will come after, on little Jack Nag. (_c._ 1783, p. 42.) - - Robin-a-Bobbin bent his bow, - Shot at a woodcock and killed a yowe [ewe]; - The yowe cried ba, and he ran away, - And never came back till Midsummer day. (1890, p. 346.) - -Halliwell saw a relation between the huntsman of this verse and the bird -robin, since the robin was reckoned to disappear at Christmas and not to -return till Midsummer. As a matter of fact, the robin leaves the abodes -of man and retires into the woodland as soon as the sharp winter frost -is over. However this may be, the presence of the wren and of the robin -was mutually exclusive, as we shall see in the pieces which deal with -the proposed union, the jealousy, and the death of these two birds. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -BIRD SACRIFICE - - -The custom of slaying the wren is widespread in France also. But the -chants that deal with it dwell, not like ours, on the actual hunt, but -on the sacrificial plucking and dividing up of the bird. Moreover, the -French chants depend for their consistency not on repetition like ours, -but are set in cumulative form. Both in contents and in form they seem -to represent the same idea in a later development. - -At Entraigues, in Vaucluse, men and boys hunted the wren on Christmas -Eve, and when they caught a bird alive they gave it to the priest, who -set it free in church. At Mirabeau the hunted bird was blessed by the -priest, and the curious detail is preserved that if the first bird was -secured by a woman, this gave the sex the right to jeer at and insult -the men, and to blacken their faces with mud and soot if they caught -them. At Carcassonne, on the first Sunday of December, the young people -who dwelt in the street of Saint-Jean went out of the town armed with -sticks and stones to engage in the hunt. The first person who struck the -bird was hailed king, and carried the bird home in procession. On the -last of December he was solemnly introduced to his office as king; on -Twelfth Day he attended mass in church, and then, crowned and girt about -with a cloak, he visited the various dignitaries of the place, including -the bishop and the mayor, in a procession of mock solemnity. This was -done as late as 1819.[67] This identification of the bird and the men -explains the hiring of a cart or waggon to convey "the bird" in our own -custom-rhymes. - - [67] Rolland, loc. cit., II, 295 ff.; Frazer, loc. cit., II, 445 - ff. - -The Breton chant on "plucking the wren," _Plumer le roitelet_ begins:-- - - Nin' ziblus bec al laouenanic - Rac henès a zo bihanic | _bis._ (L., I, p. 72.) - - "We will pluck the beak of the wren, for he is very small," and - continues, "We will pluck the left eye of the wren, for he is very - small". - -and then enumerates right eye, left ear, right ear, head, neck, chest, -back, belly, left wing, right wing, left buttock, right buttock, left -thigh, right thigh, left leg, right leg, left foot, right foot, first -claw of left foot and every claw in succession of this and of the other -foot. The last sentence is "We will pluck the tail of the wren," and -then sentence after sentence is repeated to the first, "We will pluck -the beak of the wren because he is very small, we have plucked him -altogether." - -Another poem preserved in Breton relates how the wren was caught and -caged and fed till the butcher and his comrades came and slew it, when -the revelry began (L., I, p. 7). - -I have often wondered at the cruel sport of confining singing birds in -cages. Possibly this goes back to a custom of fattening a victim that -was sacrificially slain. For the wren is tabu in Brittany as among -ourselves, and in popular belief the nestlings of each brood assemble -with the parent birds in the nest on Twelfth Night, and must on no -account be disturbed. This reflects the belief that the creature that is -slain during the winter solstice, at its close starts on a new lease of -life. - -The wren is not the only bird that was sacrificially eaten in France, -judging from the chants that are recorded. A chant on "plucking the -lark," _Plumer l'alouette_, is current in the north of France which -begins:-- - - Nous la plumerons, l'alouette, - Nous la plumerons, tout de long. (D. B., p. 124.) - - "We will pluck the lark, we will pluck it altogether." - -And it enumerates the bird's beak, eyes, head, throat, back, wings, -tail, legs, feet, claws. - -A variation of the same chant is sung in Languedoc, where it is called -_L'alouette plumée_, "the plucked lark," and is described as a game (M. -L., p. 457). - -Again, the dividing up of the thrush forms the subject of a chant which -is sung in Brittany in the north (L., I, p. 81), and in Languedoc in the -south. It is called _Dépecer le merle_, and preserves the further -peculiarity that the bird, although it is divided up, persists in -singing. The version current in Languedoc begins:-- - - Le merle n'a perdut le bec, le merle n'a perdut le bec, - Comment fra-t-il, le merle, comment pourra-t-il chanter? - Emai encaro canto, le pauvre merle, merle, - Emai encaro canto, le pauvre merlatou. (M. L., p. 458.) - - "The thrush has lost his beak, how will he manage to sing, and yet - he sings, the poor thrush, yet he goes on singing." - -The chant then enumerates the bird's tongue, one eye, two eyes, head, -neck, one wing, two wings, one foot, two feet, body, back, feathers, -tail; always returning to the statement that the bird, although it is -divided up, persists in singing. - -The French word _merle_ stands both for thrush and for blackbird. The -blackbird is held in reverence among ourselves in Salop and -Montgomeryshire, and blackbird-pie was eaten in Cornwall on Twelfth -Night.[68] But there is no reference to the sacrificial slaying of the -bird, as far as I am aware. In the French chant the bird continues to -sing although it is killed. The same idea finds expression in our -nursery song of _Sing a Song of Sixpence_. This piece, taken in -conjunction with the eating of blackbird-pie in Cornwall and the French -chants, seems to preserve the remembrance of the ancient bird sacrifice. -The first verse of this rhyme appears in the collection of 1744, in -which "naughty boys" stands for blackbirds. In other collections the -piece runs as follows:-- - - Sing a song of sixpence, a bagful of rye, - Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pye - And when the pye was open'd, the birds began to sing; - Was not this a dainty dish to set before the king? - The king was in his parlour counting out his money, - The queen was in the kitchen eating bread and honey, - The maid was in the garden hanging out the clothes, - Up came a magpie and bit off her nose. (_c._ 1783, p. 26.) - - [68] Thomas, N. W., "Animal Superstitions" in _Folk-Lore_, - September, 1900, p. 227. - -The magpie is "a little blackbird" in the version of Halliwell, which -continues:-- - - Jenny was so mad, she didn't know what to do, - She put her finger in her ear and cracked it right in two. - -Halliwell (1842, p. 62) noted that in the book called _Empulario or the -Italian Banquet_ of 1589, there is a receipt "to make pies so that the -birds may be alive in them and fly out when it is cut up," a mere -device, live birds being introduced after the pie is made. One cannot -but wonder if the device was a mere sport of fancy, or if it originated -from the desire to give substance to an ancient belief. - -Again, the robin redbreast was sacrificially eaten in France at Le -Charme, Loiret, on Candlemas, that is on February the first (Ro., II, -264). There are no chants on the sacrifice of the robin in France, as -far as I know. Among ourselves, on the other hand, where no hunting of -the robin is recorded, a piece printed both by Herd[69] and Chambers -suggests his sacrifice. The piece is called by Chambers _The Robin's -Testament_, and it describes how the bird, on the approach of death, -made a bequest of his several parts, which he enumerated exactly in the -way of the sacrificial bird-chants current in France. They were his neb, -feathers of his neb, right leg, other leg, feathers of his tail, and -feathers of his breast, to each of which he attributed a mystic -significance. The piece in the combined versions stands as follows:-- - - [69] Herd, David, loc. cit., II, 166. - - Guid-day now, bonnie Robin - How lang have you been here? - I've been bird about this bush, - This mair than twenty year! - - _Chorus_: Teetle ell ell, teetle ell ell. - Tee, tee, tee, tee, tee, tee, tee, - Tee, tee, tee, teetle eldie. - - But now I am the sickest bird - That ever sat on brier; - And I wad make my testament, - Guidman, if ye wad hear. - - "Gar tak this bonnie _neb_ o' mine, - That picks upon the corn, - And gie 't to the Duke o' Hamilton - To be a hunting horn. - - "Gar tak these bonnie feathers o' mine, - _The feathers o' my neb_, - And gie to the Lady o' Hamilton - To fill a feather-bed. - - "Gar tak this guid _right leg_ o' mine - And mend the brig o' Tay; - It will be a post and pillar guid, - It will neither ban nor gae. - - "And tak this _other leg_ o' mine - And mend the brig o'er Weir; - It will be a post and pillar guid, - It'll neither ban nor steer. - - (_Herd only_). - - "Gar tak these bonnie feathers o' mine - The feathers o' my tail, - And gie to the Lady o' Hamilton - To be a barn-flail. - - "Gar tak these bonnie feathers o' mine - The _feathers o' my breast_, - And gie to ony bonnie lad - That'll bring me to a priest." - - Now in there came my Lady Wren - With mony a sigh and groan; - "O what care I for a' the lads - If my wee lad be gone?" - - Then robin turned him round about - E'en like a little king, - "Go, pack ye out at my chamber door, - Ye little cutty quean." - - (_Chambers only_). - - Robin made his testament - Upon a coll of hay - And by came a greedy gled - And snapt him a' away. (1870, p. 40.) - -_The Robin's Testament_ should be compared with the French piece called -_Le Testament de l'Ane_, "the testament of the ass," of which a number -of variations have been collected. The "testament of the ass" was -recited outside the church on the so-called _Fête de l'Ane_, "the feast -of the ass," which was kept in many cities of France till a -comparatively recent date. In Douai it was celebrated as late as the -year 1668. On this occasion an ass was brought into church, and an -office was recited in Latin, which enlarged on the ass that carried the -Holy Family into Egypt, the ass which bore Christ into Jerusalem, the -ass of Balaam, and so forth. Its chorus consisted of braying, in which -the assembled canons joined. This service in church was preceded by a -recitation outside the holy edifice, which was in the vernacular, and -which, in dialogue form, enlarged on the several parts of the ass.[70] - - [70] Clémént, Madame, _Histoire des fêtes civiles et religieuses du - Nord_, 1834, p. 184. Also, Du Cange, Glossarium, _Festum Asinorum_. - -One of these dialogue pieces, current in Franche-Comté, describes how -the she-ass, conscious of the approach of death, bequeathed her feet and -ears to her son, her skin to the drummer, her tail to the priest to make -an aspergill, and her hole to the notary to make an inkpot (B., p. 61). - -Another version, at greater length, is in the form of instruction which -is given by the priest to the child, whose answers are set in cumulative -form. - -"The feast of the ass," in the words of Bujeaud, "must have been very -popular, since I have often heard the children of Angoumais and Poitou -recite the following piece ":-- - - Le prêtre: Que signifient les deux oreilles de l'âne? - - L'enfant: Les deux oreilles de l'âne signifient les deux grands - saints, patrons de notre ville. - - Le prêtre: Que signifie la tête de l'âne? - - L'enfant: La tête de l'âne signifie la grosse cloche et la langue - fait le battant de cette grosse cloche qui est dans le clocher de - la cathédrale des saints patrons de notre ville. (B. I., p. 65.) - - "The priest: What do the ears of the ass stand for?--The child: The - ears of the ass stand for the two great patron saints of our - city.--The priest: What does the head stand for?--The head stands - for the great bell, and the tongue for the clapper of the great - bell which is in the belfry of the cathedral of the holy saints, - the patrons of our city." - -We then read of the throat which stands for the entrance to the -cathedral--the body for the cathedral itself--the four legs, its -pillars--the heart and liver, its great lamps--the belly, its -alms-box--the tail which stands for the aspergill--the hide which -stands for the cope of the priest--and the hole which stands for the -holy-water stoup. - -This chant on the parts of the ass is among the most curious survivals. -At first one feels inclined to look upon it as intended to convey -ridicule, but this idea is precluded by the existence of _The Robin's -Testament_, and by the numerous pieces which enumerate the several parts -of the bird in connection with the bird sacrifice. Again in this case we -are led to look upon the piece as a garbled survival of some heathen -form of ritual. The ass, however, was not known in Western Europe till a -comparatively late period in history. It has no common Aryan name, and -the question therefore arises how it can have come to be associated with -what is obviously a heathen form of ritual. - -Mannhardt, with regard to German folk-lore, pointed out that the ass was -substituted in many places for the hare, which was tabu, and with which -it shared the peculiarity of having long ears. This substitution was -favoured by their likeness of name: _heselîn_, _heselken_. (M., p. -412.) - -We are led to inquire if the ass in Western Europe can have taken the -place of another animal also, and we find ourselves confronted with the -following facts:-- - -_Dicky_ among ourselves is applied to a bird, especially to a caged (? -perhaps a sacrificial) bird; the word Dicky is also widely applied to an -ass, properly to a he-ass.[1] The ass is often called by nicknames -exactly like the small wild birds: Jack-ass, Betty-ass, Jenny-ass, in -form closely correspond to Jack-daw, Magpie, and Jenny Wren of the -feathered tribe. The word Jack-ass moreover is applied both to the -four-footed beast and to a member of the feathered tribe. Nicknames -probably originated in the desire to conceal a creature's true identity. - -In Scotland the word _cuddy_ again stands both for an ass and for some -kinds of bird, including the hedge-sparrow and the moor-hen.[71] The -word cuddy is said to be short for Cuthbert, but it seems to be related -also to cutty, an adjective applied to the wren (cf. above, p. 176, -193), the derivation and meaning of which are uncertain. - - [71] Murray's Dictionary: _Dicky_, _cuddy_, _ass_, _Jackass_. - -The same overlapping of terms exists in France, where the ass is -popularly called Martin (Ro., IV, 206, 223, 233), while the feathered -martins include the _martin pêcheur_, kingfisher, the _martin rose_, -goatsucker, and the _martinets_ (Ro., II, p. 70). In Germany also, where -no bird-chants are recorded, as far as I am aware, the expression -_Martinsvogel_ is applied to a bird of augury of uncertain identity, -sometimes to the redbreast (Gr., p. 946). And a current proverb has it, -_Es ist mehr als ein Esel der Martin heisst_, "he is more than an ass -who is called Martin." (Ro., IV, 233.) In Barmen boys parade the streets -on the eve of St. Martin's Day, asking for contributions, and, if they -receive nothing, they sing:-- - - Mäten ist ein Esel, der zieht die Kuh am Besel. (B., p. 363.) - - "Martin is an ass, he pulls the cow by the tail," that is, "he has - no money in his purse." - -These various survivals support the view that the ass in Western Europe -somehow got mixed up with the birds. When and how this came about is -difficult to tell. The representatives of Christianity were in a -position to accept the feast of the ass, since the ass figured largely -in the Old and the New Testaments. But we do not know if they -consciously did so, and introduced the ass in the place of another -animal, or if they took over an animal which had before their time been -accepted in the place of a bird. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -THE ROBIN AND THE WREN - - -One side of the subject remains to be discussed. It is the relation of -the robin to the wren. Many custom rhymes, legends, and nursery pieces -name the birds together, and they sometimes enlarge on the jealousy of -the birds, and on the fact that their presence was reckoned mutually -exclusive. Perhaps the birds, looked at from one point of view, were -accounted the representatives of the seasons, and, as such, came and -went by turns. - -The robin and the wren are mentioned together in several custom rhymes, -some of which mention other birds also:-- - - The robin redbreast and the wren - Are God's cock and hen. (1826, p. 292.) - -In Warwickshire they say:-- - - The robin and the wren - Are God Almighty's cock and hen; - The martin and the swallow - Are God Almighty's bow and arrow. (1870, p. 188.) - -In Lancashire this takes the form:-- - - The robin and the wren are God's cock and hen; - The spink and the sparrow are the de'il's bow and arrow. - - (1892, p. 275.) - -This association of the sparrow with the bow and arrow reappears in some -nursery pieces, as we shall see later. - -The robin and the wren are coupled together also in the following rhyme -from Scotland, which has found its way into some modern English nursery -collections:-- - - The robin redbreast and the wran - Coost out about the parritch pan; - And ere the robin got a spune - The wran she had the parritch dune. (1870, p. 188.) - -_The Robin's Testament_ already quoted concludes with anger on the part -of the robin at the entrance of the wren, whose appearance heralds his -death. Other pieces describe the inverse case, when the wren dies in -spite of the robin's efforts to keep her alive. This conception forms -the subject of a Scottish ballad called _The Birds' Lamentation_, which -is included in the collection of David Herd of the year 1776. It -contains the following lines:-- - - The Wren she lyes in Care's bed, in meikle dule and pyne, O! - Quhen in came Robin Red-breast wi' sugar saps and wine, O! - --Now, maiden will ye taste o' this?--It's sugar saps and wine, O! - Na, ne'er a drap, Robin, (I wis); gin it be ne'er so fine, O! - --Ye're no sae kind's ye was yestreen, or sair I hae mistae'n, O! - Ye're no the lass, to pit me by, and bid me gang my lane, O! - And quhere's the ring that I gied ye, ye little cutty quean, O! - --I gied it till an ox-ee [tomtit], a kind sweat-heart o' myne, O! - -The same incidents are related of real birds in the toy-book called _The -Life and Death of Jenny Wren_, which was published by Evans in 1813 "for -the use of young ladies and gentlemen:-- - - A very small book at a very small charge, - To teach them to read before they grow large." - -The story begins:-- - - Jenny Wren fell sick upon a merry time, - In came Robin Redbreast and brought her sops and wine; - Eat well of the sop, Jenny, drink well of the wine. - Thank you Robin kindly, you shall be mine. - -The wren recovered for a time, but her behaviour was such as to rouse -the robin's jealousy. She finally died, and the book concludes with the -lines:-- - - Poor Robin long for Jenny grieves, - At last he covered her with leaves. - Yet near the place a mournful lay - For Jenny Wren sings every day. - -It was an ancient superstition that the robin took charge of the dead, -especially of those who died by inadvertence. - -The proposed union of the robin and the wren forms the subject also of a -story that was taken down from the recitation of Mrs. Begg, the sister -of the poet Burns. She was under the impression that her brother -invented it. It describes how the robin started on Yule morning to sing -before the king, and of the dangers, in the form of Poussie Baudrons, of -the grey greedy gled, of Tod Lowrie, and of others, he encountered by -the way. He sang before the king and queen, who gave him the wee wren -to wed. Then he flew away and sat on a briar (1870, p. 60). There is no -sequel. - -In all these stories the wren is described not as a cock-bird, but as a -hen-bird, which is incompatible with the idea of kingship that is -expressed by the bird-chants. Perhaps the idea of the kingship is the -older one. For in the legend told in the Isle of Man as an explanation -of the custom of killing the wren, this bird is described as a fairy, -that is, of the female sex, and legends that are intended to account for -a custom are necessarily of a more recent date than the custom which -they explain. The wren in Normandy also is sometimes spoken of as a -hen-bird, _La poulette du bon Dieu_, God Almighty's hen. One -custom-rhyme current in Scotland directly associates the bird with the -Lady of Heaven:-- - - Malisons, Malisons, mair than tens, - That harry the Ladye of Heaven's hen. (1870, p. 186.) - -There is another toy-book relating the proposed union of the robin and -the wren, which leads up to the death of the robin. It is called _The -Courtship, Marriage, and Picnic Dinner of Cock Robin and Jenny Wren_, -and was first issued by Harris in 1810. In this book other animals took -part in the ceremony. The cock blew the horn, the parson rook carried -Mother Hubbard's book, the lark sang, the linnet, the bullfinch, and the -blackbird all officiated. A picnic dinner followed, to which the raven -brought walnuts, the dog Tray brought a bone, the owl brought a sack of -wheat, the pigeon brought tares, and so forth. The enjoyment was at its -height-- - - When in came the cuckoo and made a great rout, - He caught hold of Jenny and pulled her about. - Cock robin was angry and so was the sparrow, - Who now is preparing his bow and his arrow. - His aim then he took, but he took it not right, - His skill was not good, or he shot in a fright, - For the cuckoo he missed, but cock robin he killed, - And all the birds mourned that his blood was so spilled. - -The cuckoo, it will be remembered, was the bird of the god Thor, and the -enemy of matrimonial bliss. - -This story of a bird-wedding does not stand alone. From France and Spain -come a number of pieces which similarly describe the proposed wedding -of birds and end in disaster. In Languedoc one is called _Lou mariage de -l'alouseta_, "the wedding of the lark." It begins:-- - - Lou pinson et l'alouseta - Se ne voulien maridà. (M. L., p. 490.) - - "The spink (_or_ finch) and the lark intended to marry. On the - first day of the wedding they had nothing to eat." - -A gadfly on his neck brought a loaf, a gnat brought a cask, a butterfly -a joint, and a sparrow brought grapes. The flea jumped out of the bed -and began to dance, and the louse came forth from the rags and seized -the flea by the arm. Then the rat came out of his hole and acted as -drummer, when in rushed the cat and devoured him. - -Exactly the same story is told in much the same form in Catalan of _La -golondrina y el pinzon_, "The goldfinch and the swallow," but the verses -on the gay rat and the destructive cat are wanting (Mi., p. 398). Other -versions have been recorded in the centre and in the North of France, -one of which was printed in 1780 (Ro., II, 180, 212; D. B., p. 106). -From thence the song was probably carried to Canada, where it reappears -as _Pinson et Cendrouille_, "The finch and the nuthatch" (G., p. 275). -Here the ending is that the rat played the fiddle, and the cat rushed in -and spoilt the fun. - -These stories of bird-weddings should be compared with one which -describes how the flea and the louse combined to set up house together -and came to grief. It is told in Catalan of _La purga y er piejo_ (Ma., -p. 74). In Languedoc the same story is told of _La fourmiho e le -pouzouil_, "the ant and the flea" (M. L., p. 508). In form these pieces -closely correspond with our bird-wedding. There is the same communal -feast to which the various guests bring contributions, and the same -revelry which ends in disaster. - -This Spanish piece on the housekeeping of the louse and the flea has a -further parallel in the story called _Laüschen und Flöhchen_, "The louse -and the flea," which is included in the fairy tales of Grimm (No. 30). -But the German story is told in the cumulative form of recitation, and -its contents are yet one stage more primitive. There is nothing on a -wedding celebration. The louse and the flea set up house together, and -began by brewing beer in an eggshell. The flea fell in by inadvertence -and was drowned. Then the louse set up the wail. In this the door joined -by jarring, the broom by sweeping, the cart by running, the dungheap by -reeking, the tree by shaking, till they were all carried away by the -brook. - -Much the same story, told in cumulative form also and equally primitive, -is current among ourselves. It seems to be old (1890, p. 454), and is -called _Tittymouse and Tattymouse_. We read how Tittymouse and -Tattymouse went a-leasing (gleaning), and set about boiling a pudding. -Titty fell in and was scalded to death. Then Tatty set up the wail. It -was joined by the stool that hopped, the besom that swept, the window -that creaked, the tree that shed its leaves, the bird that moulted its -feathers, and the girl that spilt the milk. Finally an old man fell from -a ladder, and all were buried beneath the ruins. Tittymouse and -Tattymouse are usually represented as mice, but the word tittymouse is -also allied to titmouse, a bird. Titty and Tatty are among the many -rhyming compounds of which the meaning is no longer clear. - -The conceptions on which these pieces are based all recall primitive -customs. The wedding is a communal feast to which contributions of -different kinds are brought by the several guests. Again the death of -one individual draws that of a number of others in its wake. On -comparing these various pieces, we find that those which are set in -cumulative form, judging from their contents, are the more primitive. -This supports the view that the cumulative form of recitation represents -an earlier development in literature than rhymed verse. - -The toy-book on _The Courtship of Cock Robin and Jenny Wren_ attributes -the robin's death to the carelessness of the sparrow. The sparrow is -also described as causing the death of the robin in the knell of the -robin, which is one of our oldest and most finished nursery pieces. The -death of the robin is a calamity, his blood is treasured, he is buried -with solemnity. In the collections of 1744 and 1771 the knell stands as -follows:-- - - 1. Who did kill Cock Robbin? - I said the sparrow, with my bow and arrow, - And I did kill Cock Robbin. - - 2. Who did see him die? - I said the fly, with my little eye, - And I did see him die. - - 3. And who did catch his blood? - I said the fish, with my little dish, - And I did catch his blood. - - 4. And who did make his shroud? - I said the beetle, with my little needle, - And I did make his shroud. - -_The Death and Burial of Cock Robin_ formed the contents of a toy-book -that was printed by Marshall in London, by Rusher in Banbury, and -others. One of the early toy-books belonging to Pearson, which are -exhibited at South Kensington Museum, contain verses of this knell with -quaint illustrations. The toy-book published by Marshall which contains -the knell, is described as "a pretty gilded toy, for either girl or -boy." It leads up to the knell by the following verse, which occurs -already as a separate rhyme in the nursery collection of 1744:-- - - Little Robin Redbreast sitting on [_or_ sat upon] a pole, - Niddle noddle [_or_ wiggle waggle] went his head [tail] - And poop went his hole. - -This is followed by the picture of a dead robin with the words:-- - - Here lies Cock Robin, dead and cold, - His end this book will soon unfold. - -We then read the four verses of the knell already cited, and further -verses on the owl so brave that dug the grave; the parson rook who read -the book; the lark who said amen like a clerk; the kite who came in the -night; the wren, both cock and hen; the thrush sitting in a bush; the -bull who the bell did pull. - -In another toy-book the magpie takes the place of the fly, and from the -illustration in a third one we gather that not a bull but a bullfinch -originally pulled the bell. - -The toy-book published by Marshall concludes:-- - - All the birds of the air - Fell to sighing and sobbing, - When they heard the bell toll - For poor Cock Robin. (Reprint 1849, p. 169 ff.) - -The antiquity of this knell of the robin is apparent when we come to -compare it with its foreign parallels, which are current in France, -Italy, and Spain. In these rhymes also, those who undertake the office -of burial are usually birds, but the nature of him whose death is -deplored remains obscure. - -In Germany he is sometimes _Sporbrod_, sometimes _Ohnebrod_, that is -"breadless" (Sim., p. 70), a term which may indicate a pauper. The piece -current in Mecklenburg is simpler in form than ours. - - Wer is dod?--Sporbrod. - Wenn ehr ward begraben? - Oewermorgen abend, mit schüffeln un spaden, - Kukuk is de kulengräver, - Adebor is de klokkentreder, - Kiwitt is de schä[)u]ler, - Mit all sin schwester un brä[)u]der. (W., p. 20.) - - "Who is dead?--Breadless. When will he be buried?--On the eve of - the day after to-morrow, with spades and with shovels. The Cuckoo - is the gravedigger, the Stork is the bell-ringer, the Pee-wit acts - as scholar, with all his sisters and brothers." - -The knell that is recited in Languedoc is called _Las Campanas_, the -bells. One version begins:-- - - Balalin, balalan, La campana de Sant Jan - Quau la sona? Quau la dis?--Lou curat de Sant-Denis. - Quau sona lous classes?--Lous quatre courpatrasses. - Quau porta la caissa?--Lou cat ambe sa maissa. - Quau porta lon doù?--Lou pèirou.[72] - - "Ding dong, the bell of St. John.--Who tolls it and who says - (mass)?--The priest of St. Denis.--Who sounds the knell?--The four - ravens.--Who bears the coffin?--The cat in its maw.--Who wears - mourning?--The partridge." - - [72] (M. L., p. 225.) - -Another version preserves the trait that the individual's possessions -took part in the mourning: - - "Balanli, balanlau, the bells near Yssingeaux are all tolled - through April. Who is dead?--Jan of the Gardens (dos Ort). Who - carries him to his grave?--His great coat. Who follows him?--His - hat. Who mourns for him?--The frog. Who sings for him?--The toad. - Who forsakes him?--His sabots. Who says so?--Jan the less. What - shall we give him?--The legs of a dog. Where shall we find - them?--Near Chalençons there are plenty." (M. L., p. 232.) - -_Jan dos Ort_ in other versions of the knell is called _Jean le Porc_, -also _le père du jardin_; and in the latter case, _le père petit_, the -little father, pronounces him dead, and receives dogflesh (M. L., pp. -226, 230). - -The Italian knell is quite short:-- - - Who is dead?--Beccatorto. - Who sounds the knell?--That rascal of a punch. - - (Quel birbon de pulcinella, Ma., p. 133.) - -The Spanish knell is not much longer:-- - - ?Quién s'ha muerto.--Juan el tuerto. - ?Quién lo llora.--La señora. - ?Quién lo canta.--Su garganta. - ?Quién lo chilla.--La chiquilla. (Ma., p. 62.) - - "Who is dead?--Crooked Juan. Who mourns for him?--The swallow. Who - sings for him?--His coat. Who calls for him?--The quail." - -Victor Smith, with reference to these chants, enlarged on the possible -nature of Jan, or Juan, of the French and Spanish versions, who is -called also "the father of the gardens," and who was given dogflesh to -eat. In illustration he adduced the legend of the god Pan, who was -looked upon as the father of gardens, and who was supposed to eat -dogflesh (M. L., p. 227). Dogs were sacrificed at the Lupercalia which -were kept in April, and the month of April is actually mentioned in one -of the French chants. If this interpretation is correct, the knells on -Jan current in France and Spain preserve the remembrance, not of a bird -sacrifice, but of a dog sacrifice. But the Italian name Beccatorto is -probably crossbill (R., II, 160), and birds appear as the chief mourners -in most of the foreign chants, as they do in ours. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -CONCLUDING REMARKS - - -In conclusion it seems well to glance back over the ground that has been -traversed, and to consider what information can be gleaned from the -comparative study of nursery rhymes. - -At the outset we saw that our nursery collections consist of a variety -of pieces of diverse origin. Many rhymes are songs or snatches of songs -which have no direct claim on the attention of the student of folk-lore. -Other pieces are relatively new, although they contain names that are -old. Thus, Old King Cole and Mother Hubbard are names that go some way -back in history; the story of the woman who fell asleep out of doors and -forgot her identity, preserves an old tradition; Jack and Jill are -connected with Scandinavian mythology; while Tommy Linn, the hero of -several nursery pieces, figures in romantic ballad literature also. - -A more primitive form of literature is represented by traditional -dancing and singing games, to which many nursery rhymes can be traced. -These games in several instances preserve the remains of celebrations -that date from heathen times. In the last instance they survive as a -diversion of the ballroom. Incidental allusions enabled us to establish -the relation between the Cotillon, the Cushion Dance, and the game of -_Sally Waters_. This latter game preserves features of a marriage rite, -which was presided over by a woman who was addressed as mother. The -words used in the game and the rite suggest that there may be some -connection between the game of _Sally Waters_ and the name of Sul, the -local goddess of the waters at Bath. - -Other traits preserved in the games of _The Lady of the Land_, _Little -Dog I call you_, and _Drop Handkerchief_, probably date from the same -period. For the comparison of these games with their foreign parallels -enabled us to realize that, in their case also, it is a question of a -presiding mother, who, in some of the German versions of the game, was -addressed by the name of a heathen mother divinity. _Engelland_, that is -Babyland, and the disabled condition of the human mother, which are -mentioned in these games, reappear in the ladybird rhymes. In these we -also come across Ann or Nan, who reappears under the same name in the -corresponding rhymes of Switzerland and Swabia. - -On comparing our rhymes with those of other countries, we find that the -same thoughts and conceptions are usually expressed in different -countries in the same form of verse. The words that are used, both in -England and abroad, in dancing and singing games, in custom rhymes like -those addressed to the ladybird, and in riddle-rhymes such as that in -_Humpty-Dumpty_, are set in short verse that depends on tail rhyme for -its consistency. Distinct from them are the pieces that depend for their -consistency on repetition and cumulation. Some of these are obviously -intended to convey instruction, like the chants of Numbers and of the -Creed. Others appear to be connected with the making and unmaking of -spells. Again in this case, the parallel pieces of different countries -are set in the same form of verse. - -Another class of rhymes is represented by the chants on bird sacrifice. -Those current among ourselves depend for their consistency on repetition -only, while those current abroad which present details on the plucking -and the dividing up of the bird, are related in cumulative form. Perhaps -the repetition which preserves the simpler facts of the custom is the -older form of recitation. The kingship of the wren which is accepted -throughout Europe, and which dates some way back in history, in some of -these chants is connected with the kingship of the man who was engaged -in the hunt. Possibly the custom of killing the king was overlaid by the -custom of sacrificing a bird in his stead. - -The reverence felt for the wren is equalled among ourselves by the -reverence felt for the robin, whose knell remains one of our finest, and -perhaps one of our oldest nursery pieces. It is set in dialogue form, -which seems to have been generally associated with bells, but which was -a primitive manner of recitation, as we gather from other pieces. - -The information which can be derived from nursery rhymes corroborates -what has been collected elsewhere concerning different stages of social -history in the heathen past. Some pieces preserve allusions which carry -us back to customs that prevailed during the so-called mother age; -others, quite distinct from them, are based on conceptions that may have -taken rise before man tilled the soil. The spread of European nursery -rhymes, taken in the bulk, appears to be independent of the usual racial -divisions. Some of our rhymes, such as that of the ladybird and _Humpty -Dumpty_ have their closest parallels in Germany and Scandinavia; others, -such as the bird-chants and the animal weddings, have corresponding -versions in France and in Spain. Moreover, some of the ideas that are -expressed in rhymes carry us beyond the confines of Europe. The chafer -was associated with the sun in Egypt, the broken egg engaged the -attention of the thinking in Tibet. - -Thus the comparative study of the nursery rhymes of different countries -throws light on allusions which otherwise remain obscure, and opens up a -new vista of research. The evidence which is here deduced from some -rhymes, and the interpretation put on others, may be called into -question. Much remains to be said on the subject. But the reader will, I -think, agree that nursery rhymes preserve much that is meaningful in -itself, and worth the attention of the student. - - - - -LIST OF FOREIGN COLLECTIONS - - -The following foreign collections are referred to by initials in the -text:-- - - A. Archivio Storrco per lo Studio delle tradizione popolari. - Articles by Canizzaro, I, 1882; by Wesselowski, II, 1883, _etc._ - - Br. _Birlinger_: Nimm mich mit, 1871. - - Bo. _Boehme, F. M._: Geschichte des Tanzes, 1884. - - B. _Bujeaud, I._: Chants et chansons des provinces de l'Ouest, - 1895. - - C. P. Corpus Poet. Borealium, ed. Vigfusson and Powell, 1883. - - D. _Dumersan, M._: Chansons et rondes enfantines, 1856. - - Du. _Dunger, H._: Kinderlieder aus dem Vogtland, 1874. - - D. B. _Durieux et Bruyelles_: Chants et chansons du Cambrésis, - 1864. - - E. _Erk, L._: Deutscher Liederhort, 1856. - - F. _Frischbier, H._: Preussische Volksreime und Spiele, 1867. - - G. _Gagnon, E._: Chansons pop. du Canada, 1865. - - Gr. _Grimm, J._: Deutsche Mythologie, reprint 1875. - - Gt. _Grundtvig_: Gamle Danske Minder, 1854-6. - - H. _Handelmann_: Volks--und Kinderspiele aus Schleswig Holstein, - 1862. - - H. V. _Hersart de la Villemarqué_: Barzas Breis, 1867. - - L. _Luzel, F. M._: Chansons de la Basse Bretagne, 1890. - - M. _Mannhardt_: Germanische Mythen, 1858. - - Ma. _Marin, Rodriguez_: Rimas Infantiles, 1882. - - Me. _Meier, Ernst_: Kinderreime und Kinderspiele aus Schwaben, - 1851. - - Mi. _Mila y Fontanals_: Romancerillo Catalan, 1882. - - Mo. _Morlidas_: Grande Encyclopedie des Jeux. - - M. L. _Montel et Lambert_: Chants populaires du Languedoc, 1880. - - N. _Newell, W. W._: Songs of American Children, 1884. - - _N. & Q._ Notes and Queries. - - R. _Rochholz_: Alemannisches Kinderlied und Spiel, 1859. - - Ro. _Rolland_: Faune populaire, 1876-83. - - S. _Schleicher_: Volksthümliches aus Sonneberg, 1858. - - Sch. _Schuster, F. W._: Siebenbürg-sächs. Volkslieder, 1856. - - Sim. _Simrock_: Das deutsche Kinderbuch. - - St. _Stöber_: Elsässisches Volksbüchlein, 1842. - - V. _Vemaleken_: Spiele und Reime aus Oesterreich, 1873. - - W. _Wossidlo_: Volksthümliches aus Mecklenburg, 1885. - - - - -ALPHABETICAL INDEX - - - A - PAGES - - A cat came fiddling out of a barn, 34, 35 - - A frog he would a-wooing ride, 29, 31 - - A new dyall (_Christmas carol_), 149 - - A was an apple pie, 14 - - A was an archer who shot at a frog, 37 - - A whistling woman and a crowing hen (_Proverb rhyme_), 73 n. - - Ann _or_ Nan, 97, 217 - - As high as a castle, 108 - - As round as an apple, 107 - - Ass, chants on the, 193 ff. - - - B - - Babbity Bowster (_a game_), 60 - - Babyland, 79 ff., 100, 217 - - Balalin, balalan (_French knell_), 212 - - Balanli, balanlau (_French knell_), 213 - - Ballads and rhymes, 44 ff. - - Bells, 54, 56, 212, 213 - - Bird sacrifice, 185 ff. - - Bishop, bishop, barnabee, 94 - - Blackbird, sacrificed and eaten, 189 - - Bless you, bless you, bonnie bee, 95 - - Boule, boule (_French riddle_), 107 - - Bryan o'Lin had no watch to put on, 53 - - Bufe (_name of a dog_), 88 - - Burdens and their origin, 29 - - Burnie bee, burnie bee, 94 - - Buy this of me (_a game_), 139 - - - C - - Can, caer, Killoré (_Breton chant_), 152 - - Can you make me a cambrick shirt?, 49 - - Chants of Numbers, 134 ff. - - Chants of the Creed, 142 ff. - - Chi è morto? (_Italian knell_), 213 - - Club Fist (_a game_), 127 - - Collections of English Nursery Rhymes, 11 - - Collections of foreign rhymes, 221 - - Come, and I will sing you (_a chant_), 159 - - Come, dance a jig, 33 - - Cotillon (_a dance_), 58, 216 - - Country dances, 57 ff. - - Cuddy (_bird and ass_), 197 - - Cumulative pieces 115, ff. - - Cushion Dance, 60, 216 - - Custom Rhymes, 89 ff. - - - D - - Das Englein aufziehen (_German game_), 83 - - Das Haus vom hölzernen Mann (_German piece_), 124 - - Dépecer le merle (_French chant_), 188 - - Der har du det haus (_Scandinavian piece_), 122 - - Dic mihi quid unus (_Latin chant_), 145 - - Dicky (_bird and ass_), 197 - - Ding dong bell, 54 - - Dipping, custom of, 69 - - Doctor Sacheverel, 14 - - Dog, character in games, 80, 85 - - Dog sacrifice, 214 - - Dowdy cow, dowdy cow, 94 - - Drop handkerchief (_a game_), 87, 216 - - Dump (_a game_), 126 - - - E - - Early references to rhymes, 13 ff. - - Echod me jodea (_a Hebrew chant_), 143 - - Eggs in religious belief, 104 ff. - - Eight ships on the main, 140 - - Eight was the crooked straight (_a chant_), 161 - - Enfille aiguille (_French dance_), 56 - - Engelland (_in German folk-lore_), 84, 217 - - Es ist ein Baum (_German piece_), 125 - - Es ist etwas in meinem Haus (_Swabian riddle_), 108 - - Es kam eine Maus gegangen (_German piece_), 123 - - Es schickt der Herr (_German piece_), 125 - - - F - - Father Hubbard, 42 - - Fire, fire, says the town crier, 44 - - First appearance of rhymes in print, 1 ff. - - Flieg, käfer, flieg (_German rhyme_), 100 - - Fly, ladybird, fly, 94 - - Frau Gode, Rose, Sole (_German divinities_), 81 ff. - - Fuzzy-Muzzy chorus, 175 - - - G - - Gabriel hounds, 87, 165 - - God Almighty's colly cow, 95 - - Goldchäber flüg up (_Swiss rhyme_), 97 - - Gossen och Geten Näppa (_Swedish piece_), 130 - - Gowden bug, gowden bug, 93 - - Great A, little a, Bouncing B, 9 - - Great Lord Frog and Lady Mouse (_a song_), 31 - - Green grow the rushes, O (_a chant_), 158 - - Guid day now, bonnie Robin (_a ballad_), 192 - - - H - - Heathen chants of the Creed, 152 ff. - - Hebrew chants, 119, 143 - - Hemp seed I set, 56 - - Here comes a woman from Babyland, 79 - - Herrgotspferdchen (_German rhyme_), 102 - - Hick-a-more, Hack-a-more, 113 - - Highty, tighty, paradighty, 113 - - Himmelsküchlein (_German rhyme_), 95 - - Hitty Pitty within the wall, 112 - - Hiuki and Bill (_heathen divinities_), 20 - - Hoddy doddy with a round body, 111 - - Hümpelken Pümpelken (_German rhyme_), 106 - - Humpty Dumpty (_a drink_), 109 - - Humpty Dumpty (_a game_), 110 - - Humpty Dumpty sate on the wall, 91, 105, 217, 219 - - Hunting the wren, 173 ff. - - - I - - I had a little dog whose name was Buff, 88 - - I have a little dog and it won't bite you, 87 - - I'll sing you one, oh! (_a song_), 158, 160 - - I won't be my father's Jack, 22 - - Il sortait un rat (_French piece_), 123 - - In those twelve days, in those twelve days (_a carol_), 149 - - It was a frog in the well (_a song_), 29 - - - J - - Jack and Gill went up the hill, 20 ff., 215 - - Je suis pauvre (_French game_), 81 - - Jenny Wren fell sick, 203 - - Joan Saunderson (_a dance_), 59 - - John Ball shot them all, 15 - - Johnny Armstrong killed a calf, 15 - - Joy, health, love, and peace (_a custom rhyme_), 181 - - - K - - King, King Golloway, 94 - - King Stephen was a worthy king (_a song_), 17 - - Kiss in the ring (_a game_), 67 - - Kit and Kitterit and Kitterit's mother, 54 - - Kluge Else (_German tale_), 56 - - Kommt ein Tonn (_German riddle_), 109 - - - L - - L'alouette plumée (_French chant_), 188 - - La fourmiho e le pouzouil (_French piece_), 207 - - La golondrina y el pinzon (_Spanish piece_), 206 - - La premiere partie de la foi (_French chant_), 136 - - La purga y er piejo (_Spanish piece_), 207 - - La Soule (_a French divinity_), 77 - - Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home, 93 - - Lady cow, lady cow, fly and be gone, 93 - - Lady, lady landers, 94 - - Laughing, significance of, 80, 85 - - Laüschen und Flöhchen (_German tale_), 207 - - Lavender blue, fiddle faddle, 34 - - Le conjurateur et le loup (_French piece_), 131 - - Le merle a perdu le bec (_French chant_), 189 - - Le pied de boeuf (_French game_), 128 - - Le testament de l'âne (_French chant_), 193 - - Les dons de l'an (_French game_), 136 - - Lille Bulle (_Scandinavian riddle_), 106 - - Lillylow, lillylow, 113 - - Limping, significance of, 86 - - Little Dog, I call you (_a game_), 80, 85 ff., 216 - - Little Jack Horner sat in a corner, 14, 65 - - Little Mary Ester, 64 - - Little Miss Mopsey, 64 - - Little Miss Muffet, 64, 90 - - Little Nancy Etticoat, 113 - - Little Polly Flinders, 64 - - Little Robin Redbreast sitting on a pole, 210 - - Little Tom Tacket, 64 - - Little Tom Tucker, 65 - - Lou pinson et l'alouseta (_French chant_), 206 - - Lucy Locket lost her pocket, 15 - - L'y a un loup (_French chant_), 131 - - - M - - Malisons, malisons, mair than tens, 204 - - Malt or millet, 131 - - Mäten ist ein Esel (_German rhyme_), 198 - - Martin (_bird or ass_), 198 - - Mister Chinnery then, 32 - - Mister Moffit is a very good man, 172 n. - - Mjölnir _or_ miller, 99 - - Mohammedan dialogue story, 165 - - Mother Bunch (_a traditional name_), 27, 56 - - Mother Goose (_a traditional name_), 3 - - Mother Hubbard, 38, 215 - - Mother Ross, 82 - - My father left me three acres of land, 49 - - My plaid awa' (_a ballad_), 46 - - - N - - Nan _or_ Ann, 97, 217 - - Nin ziblus bec (_Breton chant_), 186 - - Nines, punishment by, 128 - - Nous la plumerons l'alouette (_French chant_), 188 - - - O - - O, where are you going, says Milder to Malder, 176 - - Old King Cole was a merry old soul, 18, 215 - - Old Mother Hubbard she went to the cupboard, 38, 42 - - One God, one baptism, and one faith (_a poem_), 149 - - One old Oxford oyster, 141 - - One, two, buckle my shoe, 162 - - One, two, three, four, five, 161 - - Our good Quane Bess, 17 - - - P - - Peter and Paul sat on the wall, 22 - - Peter Piper picked a peck, 141 - - Pinson et Cendrouille (_French chant_), 207 - - Plenty of ale to-night, my boys (_a song_), 160 - - Plumer le roitelet (_French chant_), 186 - - Pretty little girl of mine (_a game_), 67 - - - Q - - Qu'est-ce-qui est rond (_French riddle_), 108 - - Quién me dira (_Spanish chant_), 156 - - Quien s'ha muerto (_Spanish knell_), 214 - - - R - - Riddle-rhymes, 104 ff. - - Robbin and Bobbin, two great belly'd men, 182 - - Robert Rowley rolled, 141 - - Robin and Richard were two pretty men, 183 - - Robin-a-Bobbin bent his bow, 183 - - Robin-the-Bobbin, the big-headed hen, 183 - - Roses are red, diddle, diddle, 33 - - Rowley, rowley, rattlebags, 141 - - - S - - Sacrificial hunting, 171 ff. - - Sally Waters (_a game_), 62, 67 ff., 216 - - Salt, significance of, 85 - - Seven years' time reckoning, 51, 69 ff. - - Si un cordonnier cordant (_French rhyme_), 142 - - Sing a song of sixpence, 190 - - Sing hey diddle diddle, 35 - - Sommervögele flueg aus (_German rhyme_), 96 - - Sprinkling the pan (_a ceremonial act_), 71 - - Stout (_a traditional name_), 55 - - Sul (_a divinity_), 75 - - - T - - Tam o' th' Lin and a' his bairns, 53 - - The birds' lamentation (_a song_), 202 - - The comic adventures of Mother Hubbard (_a toy-book_), 38 ff. - - The courtship of Cock Robin and Jenny Wren (_a toy-book_), 205, 209 - - The death and burial of Cock Robin (_a toy-book_), 37, 210 - - The first day of Christmas (_a game_), 135 - - The gaping, wide-mouthed, waddling frog (_a game_), 37, 116, 138 - - The king sent his lady (_a game_), 135 - - The Lady of the Land (_a game_), 78 ff., 216 - - The Lady of the Mountain (_a game_), 67 - - The life and death of Jenny Wren (_a toy-book_), 202 - - The man in the moon drinks claret, 21 - - The old woman and her pig _or_ kid, 119 ff. - - The robin and the wren, 200 ff. - - The robin redbreast and the wren, 201 - - The Robin's Testament (_a song_), 191 ff., 201 - - The tragic death of A, apple pie (_a toy-book_), 37 - - The twelve days of Christmas (_a game_), 134 ff. - - The two grey cats, 54 - - The wife who expects to have a good name (_a proverb_), 86 - - The wren she lyes in care's bed (_a song_), 202 - - The wren, the wren, the king of all birds, 180 - - The Yule days (_a game_), 135 - - There lived a puddy in a well (_a song_), 30 - - There was a bonny blade (_a song_), 25 - - There was a frog lived in a well (_a song_), 32 - - There was a little man who woo'd, 24 - - There was a little man who had a little gun, 25 - - There was a little old woman, and she lived in a shoe, 41 - - There was a little woman as I've heard tell, 55 - - There was a wee wifie (_a song_), 26 - - There was an old woman tossed in a blanket (_a song_), 25 - - There was an old woman who lived in a shoe, 100 - - There were two blackbirds, 22 - - This is the house that Jack built, 117 ff. - - This ladyfly I take from the grass, 95 - - Three blind mice, 28, 29, 90 - - Tittymouse and Tattymouse (_a cumulative story_), 208 - - Tom Hickathrift (_a chapbook_), 99 - - Tommy Linn is a Scotchman born, 52, 215 - - Toy-books, 3, 36 ff., 202, 204 - - Twelve huntsmen, with horns and hounds, 139 - - - U - - Une femme qui siffle (_French proverb_), 73 n. - - - V - - Voici la maison que Pierre a bâtie (_a French piece_), 123 - - - W - - Wallflowers (_a game_), 72 n. - - We hunted the wren, 177 - - We will a' gae sing, boys (_a chant_), 157 - - We will go to the wood, 174 - - Wer is dod (_German knell_), 212 - - What care I how black I be, 28 - - What care I how fair she be (_a song_), 28 - - What though now opposed I be (_a song_), 28 - - What's in the cupboard? says Mr. Hubbard, 43 - - When a twister a twisting, 141 - - When Arthur first in court began, 17 - - When good King Arthur rul'd the land, 16 - - Where have you been to-day, Billy, my son?, 50 - - Whishin dance, 60 - - Whistle, daughter, whistle, 73 - - Who did kill Cock Robbin?, 210 - - Widdicote, widdicote (_a riddle-rhyme_), 114 - - - - -PLYMOUTH - -WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON, LTD., PRINTERS - - - - -BY THE SAME AUTHOR - - -WOMAN UNDER MONASTICISM - CHAPTERS ON SAINT LORE AND CONVENT LIFE BETWEEN - A.D. 500 AND 1500. - -THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE - - -THROUGH THE CASENTINO - WITH HINTS TO THE TRAVELLER - A COMPANION VOLUME TO THE MEDIÆVAL TOWN SERIES - -J. 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