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WITCH, THE |
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The minder goes upstairs, and the Witch carries a child off. The Mother comes home, misses child, and asks—
Where's Monday ? She's gone to her grandma. Mother pretends to look for her, and says—
She ain't there. She's gone to her aunt's. Children own at last—
The bonny Old Witch has took her! The Mother beats the Daughter who has been so careless, goes to Witch, and says—
Have you any blocks of wood ? No.
Can I come in and see ? No, your boots are too dirty, &c. [Same as previous versions.] A number of girls stand in a line. Three girls out of the number represent Mother, Jack, and Daughter. The Mother leaves her children in charge of her Daughter, counts them, and says the following:—
I am going into the garden to gather some rue, And mind old Jack-daw don't get you, Especially you my daughter Sue, I'll beat you till you're black and blue. While the Mother is gone Jack comes and asks for a match ; he takes a child and hides her up. The Mother comes back, counts her children, and finds one missing. Then she asks where she is, and the Daughter says that Jack has got her. The Mother beats the Daughter, and leaves them again, saying the same words as before, until all the children have gone.— Ipswich (Suffolk Folk-lore, p. 62).
I'll charge my children every one To keep good house till I come home, Especially you my daughter Sue, Or else I'll beat you black and blue.
—Hersham, Surrey (Folk-lore Record, v. 88).
Halliwell gives a version of this which he calls the game of the " Gipsy." He gives no dialogue, but his game begins by |
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