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FOLLOW MY GABLE |
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We'll borrow a horse and steal a gig, And round the world we'll have a jig, And I'll do all that ever I can To follow my gable 'oary man.
—Earls Heaton, Yorks (Herbert Hardy).
II. Holy Gabriel, holy man,
Ran turn roarum reeden man,
I'll do all as ever I can
To follow my Gabriel, holy man.*
—Redhill, Surrey (Miss G. Hope).
III. I sell my bat, I sell my ball,
I sell my spinning-wheel and all;
And 111 do all that ever I can
To follow the eyes of the drummer man.
—Luton, Bedfordshire (Mrs. Ashdown).
(b) In the Yorkshire version a ring is formed with one child in the middle as the 'Oary Man. Whatever he, or she, does, all in the ring must mimic, going round and singing at the same time. Any one found late in changing the action or idle in obeying the caperings of the central child becomes the 'Oary Man in place of the child taking that part. Both girls and boys play. In the Redhill version, Holy Gabriel kneels in the middle of the circle. He acts as leader, and always had the fiddle as his instrument, though he now usually plays the pianoforte as his first instrument. The other children choose any instrument they like. Holy Gabriel pretends to play the fiddle, and all the other children play their own instruments until Holy Gabriel changes his to one of theirs, when that one must immediately begin to play the fiddle, and continue until Holy Gabriel takes another instrument or returns to the fiddle. This is done in vigorous pantomime. In the Luton variant the children sit in a semicircle, the Drummer faces them. He plays the drum; all the other children play on any other instrument they like. If the other players do not at once change their instrument, or neglect to sing the lines, a forfeit is demanded.
* A variant of the second line is, " Ranting, roaring, heely man." " I suppose he was Irish," said my informant, " as he was named ' Healey ' " (Miss G. Hope). |
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