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BLACK THORN |
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How many geese have you to-day ?
As many as you can catch and carry away.
—Monton, Lancashire (Miss Dendy).
II. Blackthorn ! Blackthorn ! Blue milk and barley-corn; How many geese have you to-day ? More than you can catch and carry away.
—Harland and Wilkinson's Lancashire Folk-lore, p. 150.
III. Blackthorn!
New milk and barley-corn ;
How many sheep have you to sell ?
More nor yo can catch and fly away wi'.
—Addy's Sheffield Glossary.
IV. Blackthorn!
Butter-milk and barley-corn; How many sheep have you to-day ? As many as you catch and carry away.
—Earls Heaton, Yorkshire (Herbert Hardy).
(b) One set of children stand against a wall, another set stand opposite, facing them. The first set sing the first line, the others replying with the second line, and so with the third and fourth lines. The two sides then rush over to each other, and the second set are caught. The child who is caught last becomes one of the first set for another game. This is the Earls Heaton version. The Lancashire game, as described by Miss Dendy, is: One child stands opposite a row of children, and the row run over to the opposite side, when the one child tries to catch them. The prisoners made, join the one child, and assist her in the process of catching the others. The rhyme is repeated in each case until all are caught, the last one out becoming " Blackthorn " for a new game. Harland and Wilkinson describe the game somewhat differently. Each player has a mark, and after the dialogue the players run over to each other's marks, and if any can be caught before getting home to the opposite mark, he has to carry his captor to the mark, when he takes his place as an additional catcher. |
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