| Share page | Visit Us On FB |
|
MOTHER, MAY I GO OUT TO PLAY 395 |
||
|
Grandmother, grandmother grey,
May I go out to play ?
Yes, yes, yes, if you don't frighten the geese away.
Children, I call you.
I can't hear you.
Where are your manners ?
In my shoe.
Who do you care for ?
Not for you. —Earls Heaton, Yorks. (H. Hardy).
VIII. Pray, mother, pray,
May I go out to play ? No, daughter, no, daughter, Not every fine day. Why, mother, why ? I shan't be gone long. Make a fine curtsey And glad git you gone.— Wait for your sister.
—Hurstmonceux, Sussex (Miss Chase).
IX. Please, mother, please, mother, may I go out to play ? No, child, no, child, 'tis such a cold day. Why, mother, why, mother, I won't stay long. Make three pretty curtseys and off you run.
—Northants (Rev. W. D. Sweeting).
(b) One girl is chosen to act as " Mother," the rest of the players pretend to be her children, and stand in front of her, not in a line, but in a group. One of them, very frequently all the children ask her the first question, and the Mother answers. When she gives permission for the children to go out they all curtsey three times, and run off and pretend to play. They then return, and the rest of the dialogue is said, the Mother asking the questions and the children replying. At the end of the dialogue the Mother chases and catches them, one after the other, pretending to beat and punish them. In the Northants and Hurstmonceux games there appears to be no chasing. In the London version (Miss Dendy) only two children are mentioned as playing. When the Mother is chasing the girl she |
||
|
• |
||