CUMULATIVE PIECES WE now turn to rhymes which dwell on different ideas and present life under other aspects. In these rhymes there is much on spells, on the magic properties of numbers, and on sacrificial hunting. A fatalistic tendency underlies many of these rhymes, and there are conscious efforts to avert danger. The different range of ideas which are here expressed is reflected in the form of verse in which they are presented. While the rhymes hitherto discussed are set in verse which depends for its consistency on tail rhyme and assonance, the pieces that deal with the magic properties of things and with hunting, are mostly set in a form of verse that depends for its consistency on repetition and cumulation. This difference in form is probably due to the different origin In cumulative recitation one sentence is uttered and repeated, a second sentence is uttered and repeated, then the first sentence is said; a third sentence is uttered and repeated, followed by the second and the first. Thus each sentence adds to the piece and carries it back to the beginning. Supposing each letter to stand for a sentence, the form of recitation can thus be described: A, a; B, b, a; C, c, b, a; D, d, c, b, a; etc. This manner of recitation is well known among ourselves, but I know of no word to designate it. In Brittany the form of recitation is known as chant de grÉnouille, i.e. frog-chant. A game of forfeits was known in the eighteenth century, which was called The Gaping Wide-mouthed Waddling Frog, in which the verses were recited in exactly the same manner. We shall return to it later. A relation doubtless exists between this game and the French expression frog-chant. Among our most familiar pieces that are set in cumulative In 1819 there was published in London a satire by Hone, called The Political House that Jack built. It was illustrated by Cruikshank, and went through fifty-four editions. In form it imitates the playsong, which was doubtless as familiar then as it is now. The playsong in the form published by Marshall begins:— This is the malt that lay in the house that Jack built,— This is the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built,— which is followed by the cat that killed the rat—the dog that worried the cat—the cow that tossed the dog—the maiden that milked the cow—the man that kissed the maid—the priest that married them. Here it ended. But a further line added by Halliwell (1842, p. 222) mentioned the cock that crowed on the morn of the wedding-day, and a lady of over seventy has supplied me with one more line, on the knife that killed the cock. She tells me that she had the story from her nurse, and that she does not remember seeing it in print. The version she repeated in cumulative form, told to me, ended as follows:— This is the knife with a handle of horn, that killed the cock that crowed in the morn, that wakened the priest all shaven and shorn, that married the man all tattered and torn, unto the maiden all forlorn, that milked the cow with a crumpled horn, that tossed the dog over the barn, that worried the cat that killed the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built. The The Old Woman and Her Pig was first printed by Halliwell (1842, p. 219). It tells how the woman found sixpence, and how she set out for market, and bought a pig which on the way back refused to jump over the stile. In order to break the spell that had fallen on it, she summoned to her aid: dog—stick—fire—water—ox—butcher—rope—rat—cat—cow. The cow finally gave the milk required by the cat, which set the other powers going, and thus enabled the woman to get home that night. Halliwell was impressed by the antiquity of this sequence, and included in his collection a translation of a Hebrew chant which has considerable likeness to the tale of The Old Woman A kid, a kid my father bought For two pieces of money, A kid, a kid. Then came the cat and ate the kid, That my father bought, For two pieces of money. A kid, a kid. (1842, p. 6.) It further introduces dog—staff—fire—water—ox—butcher—angel of death—Holy One. The Hebrew chant of the kid was printed in Venice as far back as 1609, and was made the subject of the learned Latin dissertation De Haedo by Probst von der Hardt in 1727 (R., p. 153). It was again discussed by P. N. Leberecht in 1731. The Hebrew chant and its relation to The Old Woman and her Pig engaged the attention of Professor Tylor, who remarked on the solemn ending of the Hebrew chant, which according to him may incline us to think that we really have before us this composition in something like its first form. "If so," he says, "then it follows that our familiar tale of the Old Woman who couldn't get the kid (or pig) over the stile, must be considered as a broken-down adaptation of this old Jewish poem." But the tale of the Old Woman taken in conjunction with This is the House that Jack built and its numerous foreign parallels, shows that Halliwell compared a piece current in Denmark with This is the House that Jack built:— Der har du det haus som Jacob bygde.
Many other versions of this tale are current in Germany and Scandinavia. In them it is sometimes a question of a house, sometimes of corn, oftenest of cutting oats or of garnering pears. The cumulative form is throughout adhered to. One German piece called Ist alles verlorn, "all is lost," begins:— In unser Kornehaus, Die nahm das Korn gefangen, In unserm Kornehaus. Die Maus das Korn, Ist alles verlorn In unserm Kornehaus. (Sim., p. 256.)
The other powers are rat, cat, fox, wolf, bear, man, maid. This piece, like This is the House that Jack built, ends abruptly. Among the less primitive variations of the tale is one recorded in Sonneberg (S., p. 102), and another in the north of France, which both substitute the name of Peter for that of Jack, that is a Christian name for a heathen one. In France the piece is called La Mouche, literally "the fly," but its contents indicate that not mouche but the Latin mus (mouse) was originally meant. The tale departs from the usual form, and has a refrain:— Voici la maison que Pierre a bÂtie, Il sortait un rat de sa raterie, Qui fit rentrer la mouch' dans sa moucherie: Belle, belle mouche Jamais je n'ai vu si belle mouche. (D.B., p. 116.)
The other powers are dog, bear, man, maid, abbot, pope, devil. The same tale is told in Austria (V., p. 113), and in Prussia (F., p. 197), where it is called Das Haus vom hÖlzernen Mann, "the house of the wooden Man." In Prussia it is recited as a game of forfeits. The sequence of the powers in the one version is house, door, lock, band, mouse, cat, dog, stick, fire, water, ox, butcher, devil; and in the other, house, door, lock, band, mouse, cat, huntsman. Jack in Germany is called Jockel, JÖggeli, Jokele. The Master who sent out Jockel is mentioned already in the Gargantua of Fischart, which was published in 1575 (Chap. XXV.). The name Jack among ourselves is applied to a person or an object of peculiar serviceableness, as in Jack-of-all-trades, or boot-jack. But in Germany the In Vogtland the current nursery version of this piece begins:— Es schickt der Herr den G?kel 'naus, Er soll den Haber schneiden. (Du., p. 35.)
As he failed to come back, dog, fire, water, ox, butcher, hangman, devil, were sent after him. In Swabia Jokele (Br., p. 44), and in Switzerland Joggeli, was sent to knock off pears on which a spell had fallen. The chant in ZÜrich has been traced back to the year 1769, and it begins:— Es ist ein Baum im GÄrtle hinne, d' Birren wÄnd nÜd fallen. Do schÜckt de Bur de Joggeli usen Er soll di Birren schÜtteln. (R., p. 155.)
But the pears refused to be knocked off, and the usual sequence of powers was sent to secure them. The tale of Jack was current in MÜnster in Westphalia also, where it was taken over by the Church, This adoption by the Church of the sequence of powers shows that we have to do with the remains of a heathen ritual, which found its way into a Christian celebration, as the tale of the kid found its way into the Easter celebration of the Jewish Church. In both instances the sequence of relative powers is preserved, and in both it is question of making an object secure for the use of man. The same sequence of powers is preserved also in the traditional game that is known as Dump among (In Yorkshire) What's this?—(Answer) Dump. (In America) What's that?—(Answer) A pear. Take it off or I'll knock it off. In Shropshire all sing together:— I've built my house, I've built my wall; I don't care where my chimneys fall. When all the fists are knocked down, the following dialogue ensues:—
Silence falls, all try not to laugh, and he who first allows a word to escape him, is punished by the others in the methods adopted by schoolboys. In the Scottish game the punishment is described as "nine nips, nine nobs, nine double douncornes, and a good blow on the back." In France the same game is known as Le Pied de Boeuf, "the foot of the ox," and a scramble of fists starts at the words:— Neuf, je tiens mon pied de boeuf. (Mo., p. 351.)
the number nine in this case being also mentioned. The meting out of punishments by nines goes far back in history. It was associated with a Yule-tide sport which is still practised in Denmark and in Schleswig, and is known as Ballerrune or Balderrune. Every member of the assembled company repeated In the game of Dump also, it is the person who speaks first that is punished, but there is nothing to suggest that this was a woman, for the game is essentially a boys' game. The story of The Woman and her Pig (or Kid), like that of Jack, is told over a wide geographical area. In the Scottish version the woman lived in a wee house and found two pennies and bought a kid. On coming home she saw a bush and wished to pull off its berries, and could not. She set the kid to watch the house, and went to seek the help of dog, stick, fire, water, ox, axe, smith, rope, mouse, cat, milk, in her hope of breaking the spell that had fallen on the bush. Each animal or object refused "to do the next one harm, In Sweden the tale of The Old Woman and her Pig is called Konen och Grisen Fick, "the woman and her pig Fick," and the pig refused to leave off eating acorns. A similar tale is called Gossen och Geten NÄppa, "the lad and the kid NÄppa," (1849, p. 6). In Elsass the pig is called Schnirrchele (St., p. 93), in Transylvania it is Mischka or Bitschki (Sch., p. 372). And a version from the north of France tells how Biquette got into a cabbage-patch from which stick, fire, water, were summoned to expel her. Biquette is described as a kid (D., p. 122). In Languedoc Biquette reappears as Bouquaire-Bouquil, who is furnished with horns and does havoc in a millet-field from which he is expelled with the help of wolf, dog, stick, fire, water, ox, rope (M. L., p. 538). In all cases the animal is one that is provided with horns. Millet is one of the oldest cereals that were cultivated in Europe, the displacement of which A French piece is current in Remiremont which is called Le Conjurateur et le Loup, "the magician and the wolf." It describes the contest between them, and shows that the making and unmaking of spells is involved:— "There is a wolf in the wood, the wolf will not come out of the wood. Ha, I promise you, brother Brocard, you will soon come out." And the magician summons to his assistance stick, fire, water, calf, butcher, devil, which help him to expel the wolf. Even more primitive than this tale is one current in Languedoc, in which a spell has fallen on a root or turnip, which is finally raised by the hog. It begins: "The old woman went into the garden in order to pull out a turnip. When The comparison of these various tales or pieces shows that dog, stick, fire, water, ox, butcher, form a sequence of powers that was accepted over a wide geographical area. They were invoked wherever it was question of breaking a spell that had fallen on a coveted object, the object including pigs, pears, oats, berries, millet, and roots. These are products that were prized in Europe from a remote period in antiquity. As the products are primitive, so probably is the form of verse in which the story is told of their being |