Page:Cornish feasts and folk-lore.djvu/186

 174 Cornish Games. Pray, pretty Miss. For this — quite, I think, a thing of the past — the children (a boy and girl alternately) formed a ring. One stood in the middle holding a white handkerchief by two of its corners : if a boy he would single out one of the girls, dance backwards and forwards opposite to her, and sing — " Pray, pretty Miss, will you come out ? Will you come out ? will you come out ? Pray, pretty Miss, will you come out, To help me in my dancing p " If the answer were " No ! " spoken with averted head over the left shoulder, the rhyme ran — " Then you are a naughty Miss ! Then you are a naughty Miss ! Then you are a naughty Miss 1 Won't help me in my dancing." Occasionally three or four in turn refused. When the request was granted the words were changed to — " Now you are a good Miss ! Now you are a good Miss ! Now you are a good Miss ! To help me in my dancing." The handkerchief was then carefully spread on the floor; the couple knelt on it and kissed: the child formerly in the middle joined the ring, and the other took his place, or if he preferred it, remained in the centre ; in that case the children clasped hands and sang together — " Pray, pretty Miss (or Sir)," etc. The last to enter the ring had always the privilege of selecting the next partner. In all these childish games, to prevent disputes, and decide who shall be middleman, hide first, etc., one or other of the following formula is always recited by the eldest of the party.