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KING WILLIAM |
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Waterford, Ireland. He says, "We learn from an informant that in her town it was formerly played in this peculiar manner. Over the head of a girl who stood in the centre of a ring was held a shawl, sustained by four others grasping the corners." The game then proceeded as follows—
King William was King George's son,
From the Bay of Biscay O !
Upon his breast he wore a star—
Find your way to English schools.
Down on the carpet you must kneel ;
As the grass grows in the field,
Salute your bride and kiss her sweet,
And rise again upon your feet. Then followed the game-rhyme, repeated with each stanza—
Go choose you east, go choose you west, apparently the same as last four lines of Sheffield version. King William is then supposed to enter—
The first girl that I loved so dear,
Can it be she's gone from me ?
If she's not here when the night comes on,
Will none of you tell me where she's gone ? He then recognises the disguised girl—
There's heart beneath the willow tree,
There's no one here but my love and me. 11 He had gone to the war, and promised to marry her when he came back. She wrapped a shawl about her head to see if he would recognise her." This was all the reciter could recollect; the lines of the ballad were sung by an old woman, the ring answering with the game-rhyme.
This version seems to indicate clearly that in this game we have preserved one of the ceremonies of a now obsolete marriage-custom—namely, the disguising of the bride and placing her among her bridesmaids and other young girls, all having veils or other coverings alike over their heads and bodies. The bridegroom has to select from among these maidens the girl whom he wished to marry, or whom he had already married, for until this was done he was not allowed to depart with his bride. This custom was continued in sport |
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