Queen Anne, Queen Anne, who sits on her throne,

As fair as a lily, as white as a swan;

The king sends you three letters,

And begs you'll read one.

This is said by all the children but one, who represents the Queen, they having previously hid a ball upon one of their number. The Queen answers,

I cannot read one unless I read all,

So pray, ——, deliver the ball.

Naming any child she pleases. If she guesses rightly the child who has the ball takes her place as Queen. If wrongly, the child who has the ball says,

The ball is mine, and none of thine,

So you, proud Queen, may sit on your throne,

While we, your messengers, go and come.

Or, sometimes, these lines,—

The ball is mine, and none of thine,

You are the fair lady to sit on:

And we're the black gipsies to go and come.