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258 JACK'S ALIVE
so to keep it alive was a great matter.—Mactaggart's Gallo-vidian Encyclopedia.
He also refers to a game called " Robin-a-Ree," much like " Preest Cat," only in passing the burnt stick round the ring the following rhyme is said—
Robin-a-Ree, ye'll no dee wi' me,
Tho' I birl ye roun' three times and three;
O Robin-a-Ree, O Robin-a-Ree,
O dinna let Robin-a-Reerie dee. Robin-a-Ree occurs in an old song.—Mactaggart's Gallovidian Encyclopedia.
In Cornwall it is known as " Robin's a-light," and is played around the fire. A piece of stick is set on fire and whirled around rapidly in the hand of the first player, who says, " Robin's a-light, and if he go out I will saddle your back." It is then passed to the next, who says the same thing, and so on. The person who lets the spark die out has to pay a forfeit.—Scilly (Courtney's West Cornwall Glossary). A rhyme at Lostwithiel is known as follows—
Jack's alive, and likely to live;
If he die in my hand a pawn (forfeit) I'll give.
-(J. W.)
Jamieson (Dictionary) says, "To do ' Dingle-dousie,' a stick is ignited at one end and given as a plaything to a child." Elworthy (West Somerset Words) does not give this as a game, but says a burning stick was whirled round and round very quickly, so as to keep up the appearance of a ribbon of fire. Miss Burne (Shropshire Folk-lore, p. 530), says; " Children wave a burning stick in the air, saying—
A girdle o' gold, a saddle o' silk,
A horse for me as white as milk,
an evident relic of divinations or incantations practised with
bonfires." Halliwell (Nursery Rhymes, p. 213) gives the rhyme
as— Jack's alive, and in very good health,
If he dies in your hand you must look to yourself; the game being played in the same way as the Sheffield version (see also Halliwell's Dictionary and Moor's Suffolk Words), (b) This is a very significant game, and its similarity in |
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