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BAG O' MALT—BALL 13
The first one he strikes becomes the Craw. When the Guard wants a respite, he calls out—
Ane, twa, three, my Craw's no free. (J?) Jamieson defines " Badger-reeshil" as a severe blow; borrowed, it is supposed, from the hunting of the badger, or from the old game of " Beating the Badger."
Then but he ran wi' hasty breishell,
And laid on Hab a badger-reishill. —MS. Poein
Mr. Emslie says he knows it under the name of " Baste the Bear" in London, and Patterson (Antrim and Down Glossary) mentions a game similarly named. It is played at Marlborough under the name of "Tom Tuff."—H. S. May.
See " Doncaster Cherries."
Bag o' Malt
A bag o' malt, a bag o' salt,
Ten tens a hundred.
—Northalfs English Folk Rhymes^ p. 394.
Two children stand back to back, linked near the armpits, and weigh each other as they repeat these lines. See "Weigh the Butter."
Ball
I. Stottie ba', hinnie ba, tell to me
How mony bairns am I to hae ?
Ane to live, and ane to dee,
And ane to sit on the nurse's knee!
—Chambers' Pop. Rhymes of Scotland, p. 115.
II. Toss-a-ball, toss-a-ball, tell me true,
How many years I've got to go through!
—Burne's Shropshire Folk-lore, p. 530.
(b) Children throw a ball in the air, repeating the rhyme, and divine the length of their lives by the number of times they can catch it again. In some places this game is played with a cowslip ball, thence called a " tissy-ball."
(c) I have heard other rhymes added to this, to determine whether the players shall marry or not, the future husband's calling, dress to be worn, method of going to church, &c. (A. B. |
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