Children's Rhymes, Children's Games, Children's Songs, Children's Stories Part 4

In an old MS. by Aubrey, in the British Museum, he states that this was a prayer regularly used by people when they went to bed. Then Ody, in his _Candle in the Dark_, 1656, tells that it was frequently used by old people as a charm, and was repeated three times before going to bed.

Launcelot Sharpe, in his _Towneley Mysteries_, 1838, relates that he had often, when a boy, heard similar words used in Kent as a prayer.

Since about the time of the Crimean War--and more immediately after then than now--the children of Glasgow have shouted in the streets:--

Saw ye the Forty-Second?

Saw ye them gaun awa'?

Saw ye the Forty-Second Marching to the Broomielaw?

Some o' them had boots an' stockin's, Some o' them had nane ava; Some of them had tartan plaidies, Marching to the Broomielaw.

At an earlier period they had:--

Wha saw the Cotton-spinners?

Wha saw them gaun awa'?

Wha saw the Cotton-spinners Sailing frae the Broomielaw?

Some o' them had boots an' stockin's, Some o' them had nane ava; Some o' them had umbrellas For to keep the rain awa'.

There are many similar entertainments which these suggest. But to follow in extent the out-door rhymes of the bairns would carry us beyond the prescribed limits of this chapter. None have been cited, so far, that do not belong absolutely to the nursery; and the collection of these even, though fairly ample, is not so full as it might be. We will conclude with a few, each of which forms a puzzle or conundrum--some of them, in all conscience, gruesome enough, and full of terrible mystery--but, individually, well calculated to awaken thought and stir imagination in any youthful circle.

As I gaed owre the Brig o' Perth I met wi' George Bawhannan; I took aff his head, and drank his bluid, And left his body stannin'.

[A bottle of wine.]

As I looked owre my window at ten o'clock at nicht, I saw the dead carrying the living.

[A s.h.i.+p sailing.]

Hair without and hair within, A' hair, and nae skin. [A hair rope.]

Three feet up, cauld and dead, Twa feet doun, flesh and bluid; The head o' the livin' in the mouth o' the dead: An auld man wi' a pot on his head.

[Last line is the answer.]

There was a man o' Adam's race, Wha had a certain dwellin' place; It was neither in heaven, earth, nor h.e.l.l, Tell me where this man did dwell.

[Jonah in the whale's belly.]

A ha'penny here, an' a ha'penny there, Fourpence-ha'penny and a ha'penny mair; A ha'penny weet, an' a ha'penny dry, Fourpence-ha'penny an' a ha'penny forby-- How much is that?

[A s.h.i.+lling.]

There was a prophet on this earth, His age no man could tell; He was at his greatest height Before e'en Adam fell.

His wives are very numerous, Yet he maintaineth none; And at the day of reckoning He bids them all begone.

He wears his boots when he should sleep, His spurs are ever new; There's no a shoemaker on a' the earth Can fit him wi' a shoe.

[A c.o.c.k.]

Riddle me, riddle me, rot-tot-tot, A wee, wee man in a red, red coat; A staff in his hand and a stane in his throat, Riddle me, riddle me, rot-tot-tot.

[A cherry.]

There was a man made a thing, And he that made it did it bring; But he 'twas made for did not know Whether 'twas a thing or no.

[A coffin.]

Pease-porridge het, pease-porridge cauld, Pease-porridge in a pot ten days auld; Spell me that in four letters.

[T-H-A-T.]

I sat wi' my love, and I drank wi' my love, And my love she gave me light; I'll give any man a pint o' wine To read my riddle right.

[He sat in a chair made of his mistress's bones, drank out of her skull, and was lighted by a candle made of the substance of her body.]

Mouth o' horn, and beard o' leather; Ye'll no guess that were ye hanged in a tether.

[A c.o.c.k.]

Bonnie Katie Brannie stands at the wa', Gi'e her little, gi'e her muckle, she licks up a': Gi'e her stanes, she eats them--but water, she'll dee, Come, tell this bonnie riddleum to me.

[The fire.]

Down in yon meadow There sails a boat; And in that boat The King's son sat.

I'm aye telling ye, But ye're no calling, Hoo they ca' the King's son In the boat sailing.

[Hoo, or Hugh.]

As I gaed owre Bottle-brig, Bottle-brig brak'; Though ye guess a' day, Ye winna guess that. [The ice.]

If d.i.c.k's father is John's son, What relation is d.i.c.k to John?

[His grandson.]

The brown bull o' Baverton, Gaed owre the hill o' Haverton; He dashed his head atween twa stanes And was brought milk-white hame.

[Corn sent to the mill and ground.]

A beautiful lady in a garden was laid, Her beauty was fair as the sun; In the first hour of her life she was made a man's wife, And she died before she was born.

[Eve.]

The minister, the dominie, and Mr. Andrew Lang, Went to the garden where three pears hang: Each one took a pear--how many pears then?

[Two: the three persons were one.]

Mou'd like the mill-door, luggit like the cat; Though ye guess a' day, ye'll no guess that.

[An old-fas.h.i.+oned kail-pot.]

There stands a tree at our house-end, It's a' clad owre wi' leather bend: It'll fecht a bull, it'll fecht a bear, It'll fecht a thousand men o' wear.

[Death.]

Lang man legless, Gaed to the door staffless: Goodwife, put up your deuks and hens; For dogs and cats I carena.

[A worm.]

As I gaed to Falkland to a feast, I met me wi' an ugly beast: Ten tails, a hunder nails, And no a fit but ane.

[A s.h.i.+p.]

As I cam' owre the tap o' Trine, I met a drove o' Highland swine: Some were black, and some were brawnet, Some o' them was yellow tappit.

Sic a drove o' Highland swine Ne'er cam' owre the tap o' Trine.

[A swarm of bees.]

Infir taris, inoknonis; Inmudeelis, inclaynonis.

Canamaretots?