Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 20, 1909.djvu/393

 Collectanea. 339

considerable time, and only ends when the parties, who never sit, but stand or advance during the whole game, are tired out or exhausted. The silver anklets or the jingling bells of the girls keep time with their rapid spirited movements. The age of the players ranges from 12 to 16 or 20 and upwards.

A Hindu Nursery Game.

Ai kiska ghora ?

Rajaramka.

Kahe ko aya.

Pani pine ko.

Achcha ! Jane deo, jane deo !

Translation.

Whose horse is this ?

Rajaram's.

Why did it come ?

To drink water.

All right. Let it go. Let it go.

In India, of an evening, half a dozen or sometimes more chil- dren of six or seven years of age may be seen gathered round a Hindu female of 20 or 22 years of age, with the tips of the fingers of the right hand touching the ground as if in the standing attitude of horses. The position is semi-horizontal, the fingers standing representing horses belonging to a certain privileged Rajaram, "some one great," said to come to have a drink, and on this encroachment on another man's tank the female playing the part of the owner of the tank puts the question to one of the children, pointing to the fingers openly resting on the ground, taking the place, so to speak, of Rajaram's horses :

" Whose horse is this ? "

" Rajaram's," answers the child ? "

"Why did it come?" asks she again, (to find out the bona fides of the horse).

" To drink water," is the reply received.

" Very well, very well," says she in conclusion, excusing the animal which the fingers represent, and the fingers retire or are taken off. In like manner she puts the question to the other