Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/114

 102 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

What is that of which the key is wood and the lock is water? Moses with his wand over the Red Sea.

GAMES.

Counting-out. — Any number of people who can crowd around some central spot will place their right hands on the object before them. Some one of the number will then touch the hands in succes- sion with the forefinger of his left hand. As he does so he will repeat a jingle of words, saying one word each time he touches a hand. His words are as follows : —

1 A'ttack, cho'otack, sha'masha' Sha'mshe, 2 che'ar, bed'inge' Za'noode'; Za'n-vertz-65-ne, a'ttack, la'rum, Cho'otack la'rum, ba's ma's.

The hand on which the word "mas" falls is removed, and the jingle is repeated again. This is continued, a hand being removed at each repetition according as it is designated by the last word, until but one hand is left. The hands which have been removed have, at the instant of removal, been put next one's heart in order to warm them. As soon as there is but one hand on the table the person so remaining asks each of those with hands in their bosoms (but asks only one at a time) if his hand is warm. He always replies in the affirmative. The questioner, however, is not willing to take his word, and hence has him to take the hand from his bosom and touch the questioner's cheek. If the hand is warm, he may consider himself free to do as he pleases while others are being questioned. If not warm, then he is required to bury his face in his hands, and to lean forward so as to allow his back to serve as a resting-place for the hands of the other members of the group. One of the party now puts his hand upon the individual's back, and the others in turn place their hands on top of his hand. The original questioner asks the person bending, whose hand is topmost. A guess is made, and if wrong the guesser is pinched or otherwise tortured. The hands are then changed and another guess is made with like conditions. This goes on until the guess is correct, and then the party is released. 3

CLUB FIST.

A little group of people form a circle. One of the party closes his fist and places it on the table, or his knee. Another closes his fist,

1 I have indicated the syllables to be accented by the mark ', placed over the syllable. The sound of vowels has been indicated by Webster's system of marking.

2 Ch in chear is pronounced like Greek letter X.

1 The jingle which determines whose hands shall be taken up from the board is meaningless to the players.

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