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78 CONQUERORS OR CONKERS |
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Put down your black hat, And let me have first smack !
—Burne's Shropshire Folk-lore, p. 531.
II. Obli, obli O, my first go; And when the nut is struck, Obli, obli onker, my nut will conquer.
—Notes and Queries, 5th series, x. 378.
III. Cobblety cuts,
Put down your nuts.
—Darlington's Folk-speech.of South Cheshire.
IV. Obbly, obbly onkers, my first conquers; Obbly, obbly O, my first go.
—Lawson's Upton-on-Severn Words and Phrases.
V. Hobley, hobley, honcor, my first conkor; Hobbley, hobbley ho, my first go; Hobley, hobley ack, my first crack.
—Chamberlain's West Worcestershire Glossary.
(b) This game is played with horse chestnuts threaded on a string. Two boys sit face to face astride of a form or a log of timber. If a piece of turf can be procured so much the better. One boy lays his chestnut upon the turf, and the other strikes at it with his chestnut; and they go on striking alternately till one chestnut splits the other. The chestnut which remains unhurt is then " conqueror of one." A new chestnut is substituted for the broken one, and the game goes on. Whichever chestnut now proves victorious becomes " conqueror of two," and so on, the victorious chestnut adding to its score all the previous winnings. The chestnuts are often artificially hardened by placing them up the chimney or carrying them in a warm pocket; and a chestnut which has become conqueror of a considerable number acquires a value in schoolboys' eyes; and I have frequently known them to be sold, or exchanged for other toys (Holland's Cheshire Glossary). The game is more usually played by one boy striking his opponent's nut with his own, both boys standing and holding the string in their hands. It is considered bad play to strike the opponent's string. The nut only should be touched. Three tries are usually allowed. |
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