Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 2, 1891.djvu/91

Rh is done in profile, and its name written on it. At times it is drawn bird's-eyewise, and the boys then go within it, sit down, and act as if fishing.

(e) Writing their names on the sand is a favourite amusement, and a boy's and a girl's name are often written together. They are called "the man and the wife" (Rosehearty).

(f) It is an amusement to make or build up of wet sand the image of a man, then to run past it and strike with the hand to break it. This amusement is called "Vullin' the Rooshians" (Rosehearty).

(g) One goes along the beach making as long paces as possible. The other players follow, and their aim is to place their feet in the footsteps of the leader. The one that fails to do so is beaten (Rosehearty). The same thing is done in snow.

(h) A not uncommon amusement is to dig a hole and allow the water to fill it. The water is then carefully covered, often by sprinkling fine dry sand over the water. The one on whom the trick is to be played is enticed to walk along in the direction of it, so as to stumble into it and have his foot made wet or get a fall (Macduff). In Macduff this amusement is called "Maskin' a trap". In other villages (Portessie, Rosehearty) the hole is not filled with water, but covered over with anything found convenient, so as to conceal it.

(i) As an amusement, burying in the sand is not uncommon. At Macduff the boys dig graves in the sand or shingle, put stones or pieces of wood into them, cover them up, and then set up stones at the head of the grave. A not unfrequent amusement is burying one of the players. A grave is dug, and one stone is placed at the top and another at the bottom. After it is finished, the one to be buried is laid flat on his back in the hole—if a girl, with her clothes tightly tucked round her—and all covered up with small sand or shingle, according to the nature of the