Page:Cornish feasts and folk-lore.djvu/200

 1 88 Cornish Games. To make ducks and drakes with a stone on the water is in Cornwall called " Tic-Tac-Mollard." Cock-haw. This game is, I believe, known in other counties as " Cob-nut," but in Cornwall the boys give the name of "Victor-nut" to the fruit of the common hazel, and play it to the words : " Cock-haw ! First blaw ! Up hat ! Down cap ! Victor ! " The nut that cracks another is called a " cock battler." Children under the title of " Cock battler " often in country walks play a variation of Cock-haw with the "Hoary plantain," which they hold by the tough stem about two inches from the head ; each in turn tries to knock off the head of his opponent's flower. WiNKY-EYE. A rural game, played in the spring. An e,gg taken from a bird's nest is placed on the ground, at some distance off — the number of paces having been previously fixed. Blindfolded, one after the other, the players attempt with a stick to hit and break it. Uppa, Uppa Holye (pronounced oopa, oopa holly). When the writer was a boy, the following were the words used in the boys' game of fox-hunting. When the hounds (the boys) were " at fault " the leader cried — " Uppa, uppa holye, If you don't speak My dogs shan't folly." (East Cornwall. F. W. P. Jago, M.B., Plymouth.) Boys here, as probably elsewhere, are very fond of hitting each other and then running away, shouting — " Last blaw, never graw, For beven years to come."