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FOOT AND OVER |
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personate. The Captain then calls to the child who is out, "Tom Fool, Tom Fool, come home from school, and pick me out a blackbird," " cuckoo," or other bird. If Tom Fool is wrong in his guessing after three trials, he is condemned to run the gauntlet, being pelted with gloves or handkerchiefs not too mercifully.—Bitterne, Hants (Miss Byford).
In Sussex there is the same action with the following words, but there is no chasing or hitting—
Of all the birds in the air,
Of all the fishes in the sea,
You can pick me out [ ]. If the children fail to do so, they say—
Poor fool, been to school,
Learn more in a week;
Been there seven years
And hasn't learnt a bit.
—Hurstmonceux, Sussex (Miss Chase).
The same game is played indoors in Cornwall, the reply
° Fool, fool, go back to school
And learn your letters better.
—Cornwall (Folk-lore Journal^ v. 99-80). See " Namers and Guessers."
Foot and Over
One boy out of a number stoops in the position for " Leapfrog " at an agreed fixed line. From the players he chooses a Leader and a Foot. The Leader first leaps over the stooping boy at a foot from the line; the other players then leap in turn each at a foot further from the line, the stooping boy moving forward from the line for each player; finally the Foot leaps as far as the distance leapt by the last boy. If this is accomplished, the Leader hops from the line and then leaps; the followers hop and leap each a foot further than each other; finally the Foot hops and leaps as far as the distance covered by the last boy. If this is accomplished, the Leader hops twice and then leaps; the same process going on until one of the boys fails, who then takes the place of the stooping boy, and the game begins again. If the Foot covers any longer distance |
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