Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 17, 1906.djvu/241

 Collectanea. 227

wash his face, / And I'll comb his head, / Little insignificant old man, / Will you not smooth his head? / 3. I shall scour his shirt, / Will you not smooth his head ? / And I'll scour his trousers, / Will you not smooth his head? / 4. I shall scour his stockings, / Will you not smooth his head ? / And I'll clean his shoes, / Will you not smooth his head ? /

(P. 247, after line 7.)

From Kintyre we learn that instead of the words "a pleasant habitation," the original version gave, "and Christ is my sal- vation," We have little doubt that this is correct, the version first given being one of these shamefaced variations indulged in by those who fear the appearance of profanity.

Genuine parodies were not wanting ; for example :

"Donald Macdonald is my name, Scotland is my nation, And for to claw the parritch pot, it is my occupation."

Another is

" If this is borrowed by a friend, Right welcome shall he be. To read, to study, not to lend. But to return to me."

(After p. 245.) Potato Races.

The simplest form of this, an inside game, is when the com- petitors have to lift a potato off the floor with an egg spoon, carry it to the other side of the room and deposit it without letting it fall. Those who do it at once are of course the suc- cessful ones.

There is a game, however, in which sides are chosen to play one against the other. The sides stand at opposite walls with three potatoes laid at their feet, and each side is provided with an egg spoon. If the egg spoons are not of the one pattern, or the potatoes look less easy to move in one case than the other, a lot may be cast as to which side of the room either party is to occupy. The side which first transfers the three potatoes assigned to it to the other wall than that from which they started, wins the game, and there being only one spoon.