Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 7 1889.djvu/237

Rh travelling had instituted, by bringing large crowds from the neighbouring towns into the country. I am told that thirty years ago such a thing was unknown in the country districts of Dorset, when the game then usually indulged in was known merely as “Drop the Handkerchief.”

This game, which is but a variant of the last, and seems to partake somewhat of the nature of a “counting out” rhyme, is best played by a party consisting of as many boys as girls, who must join hands and form a ring.

The eldest boy or girl must choose whom he or she likes to go out- side the ring, who must thereupon go round the circle carrying a handkerchief, with which he or she touches each one in passing, and saying or singing the following lines:

“He shan’t bite you—he shan’t bite you—he shan’t bite you, &c., &c.—he shall bite you all over.”

This is so arranged that on coming round to the one he or she loves best the handkerchief is thrown upon that one, and with the words “he shall bite you all over” the speaker runs away, pursued by the other as soon as the handkerchief is secured. The pursuit is kept up until the first one is caught, when the two return to the centre of the