Comparative Studies in Nursery Rhymes Part 7

Little Miss Mopsey sat in the shopsey, Eating of curds and whey; There came a great spider who sat down beside her And frightened Miss Mopsey away. (1842, p. 37.)

Little Tom Tacket sits upon his cracket, Half a yard of cloth will make him a jacket, Make him a jacket and breeches to the knee, And if you will not have him, you may let him be. (1842, p. 199.)

Little Tom Tucker sings for his supper, What shall he eat, but white bread and b.u.t.ter; How will he cut it, without e're a knife And how will he be married without e're a wife.

(1744, p. 10; _c._ 1783, p. 56.)

Little Jack Horner sat in the corner, Eating a [of] Christmas pie; He put in his thumb, and he took [pulled] out a plum, And said [cried] "What a good boy am I!"

_Chorus_: And what a good boy am I! (_c._ 1783, p. 55.)

These verses as they here stand arranged, show an increasing deviation from the words used in playing the game of Sally Waters.

Tom Tucker and Jack Horner are names that go some way back in history.

For Brand states that at the revels kept at St. John's College, 1 November, 1607, a Christmas Lord of the Revels was chosen as Thomas Tucker.[32] A dance tune of the _Dauncing Master_ was called _Tom Tucker_ also.[33]

[32] Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, I, 219.

[33] _The Dauncing Master_, 1686, p. 130.

The name of Jacky Horner was familiar to Carey about the year 1720, as mentioned above. _Little Jack Horner_ was a well-known tune, and there is a direction in the Grub Street opera that the chorus shall be sung to this melody.[34] A chapbook of the latter half of the eighteenth century bears the t.i.tle, _The Pleasant History of Jack Horner, containing his Witty Tricks_, etc. It cites the familiar rhyme, and further describes the pranks that the hero played upon women. This a.s.sociation and the name recall the expressions _hornified_, that is a cuckold;[35] _horning_, a mock serenade "without which no wedding would be complete"; and _Horn Fair_, a time of unusual licence, kept up in Kent: "all was fair at Horn Fair" (1876, p. 387).

[34] Whitmore, loc. cit., p. 27.

[35] Murray's Dictionary: _Horning_.

CHAPTER VII

THE GAME OF _SALLY WATERS_

The game of _Sally Waters_ calls for further comment. In this game, as already mentioned, the players stand in a circle, boy and girl alternately choose a partner, while the friends stand around and chant the verses. In these lies the interest of the game. For these words in the fifty variations collected by Mrs. Gomme, all give expression to the same sequence of ideas. There is the call to Sally to go through the ceremony of sprinkling the pan or watering the can. This is followed by a chorus that urges that a choice be made. When this is made and sealed by joining hands, or by kneeling, or by a kiss, the chorus utters wishes for a prosperous union. Similar traits appear in the games known as _Pretty Little Girl of Mine_, _The Lady of the Mountain_, and _Kiss in the Ring_, which, in a less p.r.o.nounced form, give expression to the same ideas.

The verses used in playing _Sally Waters_ in Dorsets.h.i.+re are among the most meaningful, and stand as follows:--

Sally, Sally Waters, sprinkle in the pan, Rise, Sally; rise, Sally, and choose a young man; Choose [_or_ bow] to the east, choose [_or_ bow] to the west [_Or_ choose for the best one, choose for the worst one], Choose the pretty girl [_or_ young man] that you love best.

And now you're married, I wish you joy, First a girl and then a boy; Seven years after son and daughter, And now young people, jump over the water. (1894, Nr. 1.)

These verses and the fact that _Sally Waters_ is related to the Cus.h.i.+on Dance that is danced at weddings, render it probable that _Sally Waters_ originated in a marriage celebration of heathen times. The formula in the Dorsets.h.i.+re version of the game concludes with a direction to the young couple to "jump over the water." In the Somersets.h.i.+re version the direction is "kiss each other and come out of the water" (1894, No. 3); in the Shrops.h.i.+re variation, "kiss and shake hands and come out" (1894, No. 14); in the London variation, "kiss before you go out of the water."

(Appendix.)

Dipping was an accepted ceremonial during heathen times, which recovered or revealed a person's true ident.i.ty as in the case of Tam Linn, or of the suspected witch who was thrown into the water. Dipping const.i.tuted part of definite celebrations. For the ceremonial of "dipping" formed part of the May-Day festival as it was kept in Northampton, while in Cornwall the saying is current: "The first of May is dipping day" (1876, p. 235). May-Day was a great day for contracting matrimonial alliances in the heathen past, and is at present avoided because of its riotous a.s.sociations.

Judging from the verses used in playing Sally Waters, the union between the parties was contracted conditionally for seven years only. Seven years are definitely mentioned in sixteen out of fifty variations of the game. The same period is mentioned also in fourteen out of the twenty-five variations of the verses used in playing _Pretty Little Girl of Mine_, and in three out of seven variations of the verses used in playing _The Lady on the Mountain_.

Mrs. Gomme, in discussing the game of Sally Waters, cites various expressions which show that the marriage vow is still popularly looked upon as binding for a certain period only, sometimes for seven years (1894, II, 177). I find this corroborated by remarks I have gleaned from country-folk. Thus a woman whose husband had gone from her, after seven years felt justified in looking upon him as dead, and had the bell tolled for his funeral.

Time-reckoning by seven years goes far back in history, and is still the rule in many legal arrangements. Seven years of plenty succeeded seven years of famine in Egypt. Once in seven years the fairies rode out to claim their due. Some festivities happened only once in seven years. The curious custom of _b.u.mping_, that is, of two persons taking up by the arms any persons whom they met, and swinging them to and fro, was observed on Ganging Day (29 September) once in seven years at Bishop's Stortford (1876, p. 380). At Bradford also a septennial festival was kept in honour of Jason and the Golden Fleece and St. Blaize on 3 February (1876, p. 60). Similarly a dance known as the Metzgersprung was danced at Munich once in seven years to keep off the plague (Bo., p.

44).

The mention of seven years in the marriage game may indicate that the marriage was broken off after seven years if the stipulated conditions failed to be fulfilled. These conditions were that the children born of the union should include one of either s.e.x. Mrs. Gomme, in connection with this stipulation, remarks that a marriage is still popularly reckoned incomplete from which there is not male and female offspring.

She also points out that the expression "choose for the best, choose for the worst" of the marriage game, is related to the words "for better, for worse" of the vernacular portion of the English marriage service.

The expressions "worst and best," or "wisest and best," occur in thirteen out of the fifty versions of words; instead of these, "choose east and choose west" occur in twenty-two out of the fifty versions (1894, II, 168). It is difficult to decide which is the more primitive form of the verse; I fancy the latter.

The ceremony of choosing was led up to by _sprinkling the pan_, which is mentioned in twenty-one out of fifty variations of the game; _watering the can_ stands in twelve others. The pan was specially a.s.sociated with women as housekeepers, and, together with the cradle, is mentioned as one of the first essentials in setting up house in the game of _Wallflowers_.[36]

[36] Gomme, loc. cit.: _Wallflowers_:--

Mister Moffit is a very good man, He came to the door with a hat in his hand, He pulled up his cloak and showed me the ring; To-morrow, to-morrow the wedding begins.

First he bought a frying pan, then he bought the cradle, And then one day the baby was born. Rock, rock the cradle.

(No. 32.)

Judging from the game of _Sally Waters_ as played in Bucks, a "mother"

actually presided at the game, who directed her daughters to sprinkle the pan, and their being included among those from whom a choice was made, depended on their successfully doing so. To the words of the game as played in Bucks, I have added in brackets an indication how the words were probably distributed:--

(Half chorus): Sally, Sally Walker, sprinkled in the pan.

(Other half): What did she sprinkle for?

(Answer): For a young man.

(Mother): Sprinkle, sprinkle daughter, and you shall have a cow.

(Daughter): I cannot sprinkle, mother, because I don't know how.

(Mother): Sprinkle, daughter, sprinkle, and you shall have a man.

(Daughter): I cannot sprinkle, mother, but I'll do the best I can.

(Chorus): Pick and choose, but don't you pick me, Pick the fairest you can see.

(Man): The fairest that I can see is.... Come to me!

(1894, No. 23.)

This is followed by the usual marriage formula.

A similar dialogue is included amongst the Nursery Rhymes of Halliwell, in which the daughter is directed to whistle, a word which formerly conveyed the idea of uttering imprecations in a low voice, and which was condemned in a woman since it marked her out for a witch. The verse stands as follows:--

Whistle daughter, whistle, whistle for a cradle.

I cannot whistle, mammy, 'deed I am not able.

Whistle daughter, whistle, whistle for a cow, I cannot whistle, mammy, 'deed I know not how.

Whistle, daughter, whistle, whistle for a man, I cannot whistle, mammy; whew! Yes, I believe I can.

(1846, p. 219.)[37]

[37] Cf.

A whistling woman and a crowing hen Are neither fit for G.o.d or man. (1892, p. 506.)