The Traditional Children's Games of England Scotland
& Ireland In Dictionary Form - Volume 1

With Tunes(sheet music), Singing-rhymes(lyrics), Methods Of Playing with diagrams and illustrations.

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	3i8                           LADY OF THE LAND holding round his waist. Each child as she goes says, " Good­bye, mother, good-bye," and pretends to cry. Finally they all cry, and the game ends in a tug of war. This tug is clearly out of place unless only half the children are selected by one side. Miss Thoyts does not say how this is done. (c) This game is called " School-teacher" in Belfast. The corruption of " Lady of the Land," to H Babyland," u Babylon," and " Sandiland," is manifest. It appears to be only fragment­ary in its present form, but the versions undoubtedly indicate that the origin of the game arises from the practice of hiring servants. Mr. Halliwell has preserved another fragmentary rhyme, which he thinks may belong to this game. I can make diet bread Thick and thin, I can make diet bread Fit for the king; (No. cccxliv.) which may be compared with the rhyme given by Chambers (Popular Rhymes, p. 136), and another version given by Halliwell, p. 229. If these rhymes belong to this game it would have pro­bably been played by each child singing a verse descriptive of her own qualifications, and 1 have some recollection, although not perfect, of having played a game like this in London, where each child stated her ability to either brew, bake, or churn. It is worth noting that the Forest of Dean and Berkshire versions have absorbed one of the " selection" verses of the love-games. Mr. Halliwell, in recording the Nursery Rhymes, Nos. cccxliii. and cccxliv., as quoted above, says, " They are fragments of a game called ' The Lady of the Land,' a complete version of which has not fallen in my way." Mr. Udal's versions from Dorsetshire are not only called "The Lady of the Land," but are fuller than all the other versions, though probably these are not complete. Mr. Newell (Games, pp. 56-58) gives some versions of this game. He considers the original to have been a European game (he had not found an English example) in which there were two mothers, a rich and a poor one; one mother begging away, one by one, all the daughters of the other.