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224 |
SWINGING |
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And a good bounce [A great push here] Over the high gate wall. Said while swing stops itself:—
Die, pussy, die,
Shut your little eye,
When you wake,
Find a cake;
Die, pussy, die. —Deptford.
Wingy, wongy,
Days are longy,
Cuckoo and the sparrow;
Little dog has lost his tail,
And he shall be hung to-morrow.
— Marylebone.
The Deptford version is practically the same as known in several parts of the country, and Mr. Gerish has printed a Norfolk version in Folk-lore (vi. 202), which agrees down to the line "sent him off to sleep," and then finishes with—
With a heigh-ho! Over the bowling green. When they came to the " heigh-ho " a more energetic push than usual was given to the occupant of the swing, who was then expected to vacate the swing and allow another child a turn. Thus the rhyme served as an allowance of time to each child,
An amusement of boys in Galloway is described as on the slack rope, riding and shoving one another on the curve of the rope : they recite this to the swings—
Shuggie show, druggie draw, Haud the grip, ye canna fa'; Haud the grup or down ye come, And danceth on your braid bum.
—Mactaggart's Gallovidian Encyclopedia.
Brockett (North Country Words) describes as a swing: a long rope fastened at each end, and thrown over a beam, on which young persons seat themselves and are swung backwards and forwards in the manner of a pendulum.
See "Merritot." |
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