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396 MOTHER MOP—MOTHER, MOTHER, &c.
keeps asking, " Where's my share of the silver penny ? " to which the girl replies, " You may have the nut-shells." In the Cornish version, w,hen the Mother has caught one of the children, she beats her and puts her hands round the child's throat as if she were going to hang her.
(c) Miss Courtney, in Folk-lore Journal, v. 55, says: "I thought this game was a thing of the past, but I came across some children playing it in the streets of Penzance in 1883." It belongs to the cumulative group of games, and is similar in this respect to " Milking Pails," " Mother, Mother, the Pot boils over," &c. There seems to be no other object in the game as now played except the pleasures of teasing and showing defiance to a mother's commands, and trying to escape the consequences of disobedience by flight, in order that the mother may chase them. The idea may be that, if she is "out of breath," she cannot chastise so much. Mr. Newell (Games', p. 172) gives versions of a similar game.
Mother Mop
All the players, except one, stand two by two in front of each other, the inner ones forming an arch with their hands united —this is called the "oven." The odd child is "Mother Mop." She busies herself with a pretended mop, peel, &c, after the manner of old-fashioned bakers, making much ado in the valley between the rows of children. The oven soon gets demolished, and the last child vanquished becomes " Mother Mop " the next time.—Bitterne, Hants (Mrs. Byford).
It seems probable that the inner rows of children should kneel or stoop down in order that " Mother Mop " should have as much trouble as possible with her oven. The game may have lost some of its details in other directions, as there is no apparent reason why the oven is demolished or broken down.
See "Jack, Jack, the Bread's a-burning."
, Mother, Mother, the Pot Boils over
A number of girls choose one of their number to represent a witch, and another to be a mother. The Witch stands near the corner of a wall, so that she. can peep round. Then the |
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