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SALLY SOBER—SALMON FISHERS 179 |
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consideration is further proof of the origin of the game from a marriage rite of the pre-Celtic people of these islands. The "kissing together" of the married couple is the token to the witnesses of their mutual consent to the contract.
Attention has already been directed to the fact that parts of the formula preserved in this game are also found in other games, and it may possibly be assumed therefrom that the same origin must be given to these games as to " Sally Water." The objection to such a conclusion is mainly that it is impossible to decide to which game the popular marriage formula originally belonged, and from which it has been borrowed by the other games. Seeing how exactly it fits the circumstances of " Sally Water," it might not be too much to suggest that it rightly belongs to this game. Another point to be noted is that the tune to which the words of the marriage formula are sung is always the same, irrespective of that to which the previous verses are sung, and this rule obtains in all those games in which this formula appears—a further proof of the antiquity of the formula as an outcome of the early marriage ceremony.
Sally Sober
A game among girls [undescribed].—Dickinson's Cumber-land Glossary (Supplement).
Salmon Fishers
I. Cam' ye by the salmon fishers, Cam' ye by the roperee ? Saw ye a sailor laddie Sailing on the raging sea ?
Oh, dear------, are ye going to marry ?
Yes, indeed, and that I am.
Tell to me your own true lover,
Tell to me your lover's name ?
He's a bonnie lad, lie's a bonnie fellow,
Oh, he's a bonnie lad,
Wi' ribbons blue and yellow,
Stockings of blue silk;
Shoes of patent leather,
Points to tie them up. |
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