Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 7 1889.djvu/261

Rh games were played at other seasons of the year, and sometimes, when the weather permitted, even out of doors. It is this difficulty which prevents one from classifying children’s games absolutely into “out-door” and “in-door.” In these a distinctly mirthful character predominates, and in many of them the element of winnnig and losing has so strongly asserted itself that humorous penalties are ofttimes imposed on the losers. Those games with forfeits attached to them are, Miss Burne thinks, a decidedly later stage of development. Many of these games have a word-formula attached to them.

A party of children, thirty or forty in number if possible, must sit in a ring or half-circle on the floor (or, if the weather admit of it, on the grass) as closely as they can together, with both their hands hidden under their legs, so as to be able to pass the shoe from one to the other without being noticed. One of the party, who carries a shoe or slipper, is selected to go round and ask one of the group sitting in the ring, “Please can you mend my shoe?” who answers, “Yes.” The shoe is then handed over, and the first one proceeds: “When can I have it again?” to which the other replies, “To-morrow, about twelve o’clock. The inquirer then says, “Thank you, good morning, and I’ll be off,” and leaves for a moment, but presently, having counted “one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve,” returns and asks the one who had received the shoe to be mended if her shoe is done, when the girl will say in answer, “I passed it to my next-door neighbour.” The inquirer then goes to the next person and says, “If you please I am come for my shoe,” and will be told by each one she asks that “my next-door neighbour has got it.” If the questioner is not very sharp and manages to detect by the movement of the arms where the hidden shoe is, she may have to go round the ring five or six times, or even more, in quest of it. If any one is detected with the shoe in her possession she will have to take the place of the girl in the middle and go through the same formula. This is a very favourite game with children, and is sometimes kept up with great spirit for an hour or more.