A spire of grass hath made me gay;
It saith, I shall find mercy mild.
I measured in the selfsame way
I have seen practised by a child.
Come look and listen if she really does:
She does, does not, she does, does not, she does.
Each time I try, the end so augureth.
That comforts me—'tis right that we have faith.
Walther von der Vogelweide [A.D. 1170-1230].
No. 42.
Flower Oracles.
Plucking one by one the petals of the ox-eye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare), children ask:
Rich man, poor man, beggar-man, thief,
Doctor, lawyer, Indian chief.[83]
Girls then take a second flower, and, getting some one else to name it, proceed, in order to determine where they are to live:
Big house, little house, pigsty, barn.
And in like manner use a third to discover in what dress they are to be married:
Silk, satin, calico, rags.
Finally, they consult a fourth, to find out what the bridal equipage is to be:
Coach, wagon, wheelbarrow, chaise.
Another version gives for the second line of the first formula:
Doctor, lawyer, merchant, chief.
In Switzerland, girls in like manner say, as they pick off the flower-leaves of the common daisy (Bellis perennis):
Be single, marry, or go into the cloister?
And boys—
The marguerite (Doronicum bellidiastrum) is asked in the same country:
Heaven, hell, purgatory, paradise?
And in Styria is called "Love's Measure," because it determines the return of affection according to the well-known formula, "He loves me, he loves me not," for which a French equivalent is:
Je t'aime, un peu, beaucoup,
Tendrement, pas du tout.
But in Switzerland again the questions for the marguerite exactly match ours:
Nobleman, beggar-man, farmer, soldier, student,
Emperor, king, gentleman.
The verse is similar in Italy. It is curious to see the precise correspondence of English and Continental forms.
MediÆval writers do not mention this use of flower-petals, but frequently allude to the custom of drawing spires of grass, to secure the longer (or shorter, as might be agreed). Thus lads might draw grasses, for the purpose of deciding to which of the two a maiden might belong as a partner. This was so usual a way of deciding a controversy that it was even recognized in law, where the parties to a suit drew straws from a thatch or sheaf. Children still resort to a like arbitrament, where one holds the straws in the hand, and the other draws, the shorter straw winning. To our surprise, we find that girls in Massachusetts still keep up the mediÆval usage; they draw stalks of grass in the field, and match them, to decide who shall begin a game—be "it."[84]
We have seen that the formula "Loves me, loves me not," was used in the Middle Age with grasses. In Italy the oracle is consulted by means of the branch of a tree. A twig is taken having alternate leaves, and they are detached one by one, the consulter always turning the head as the words of the oracle are spoken. The formulas for this purpose closely resemble our own: thus, "This year, another year, soon, never," which is exactly identical with the English "This year, next year, some time, never;" or, "He loves me, longs for me, desires me, wishes me well; wishes me ill, does not care;" or, as in the Swiss form given, "Paradise, Purgatory, Caldron" (that is, Inferno).
No. 43.
Use of Flowers in Games.
Flowers are gathered and loved by children as they have always been, and are used by them in all sorts of imaginative exercises of their own invention, as, for instance, by girls in their imitative housekeeping; but there is singularly little employment of them in any definite games. Formerly it was otherwise; but the deep sympathy which blooming youth once felt and expressed for the bloom of the year seems to have almost disappeared.
In the Middle Age, as in classic antiquity, flowers were much in use for dances. Great attention was paid to the significance of particular blooms. "What flowers will you give me for a garland? What flowers are proper for adornment?" are mentioned as names of sports. It was a practice for the lover to approach his mistress with a flower or fruit which he offered for her acceptance. If the girl accepted the gift, the youth led her out, and the dance began. Another ancient practice was to throw to a girl some bloom, at the same time pronouncing a couplet which rhymed with the name of the flower. The ball, too, with which youths and maids played, was sometimes made of flowers.
Almost the only relic of ancient usage of this sort, with us, is the employment little girls make of dandelions, with which (in some parts of the country) they make long garlands, cutting off the heads and stringing them together.
This use of the dandelion is very old, from which it derives one of its many German names, the chain-flower or ring-flower. On account of its early bloom and golden hue it is especially the flower of spring, and seems to have had a religious and symbolic meaning. In Switzerland these garlands are used in the dance, the children holding a long wreath of the flowers so as to form a circle within the ring; and whoever breaks the chain pays forfeit. The plant is said to be of healing virtue, gives happiness to the lover, and, if plucked on particular days, will heal troubles of the eye. It has these qualities on account of its brightness, which causes it to be associated with the victorious power of light.
There are other ways of using this flower. A dandelion in seed is held to the lips; if the seeds can all be blown off in three attempts, it is a sign of successful love, of marriage within the year; or, with little girls, that "my mother wants me."
Little girls also split the stalks of the flower, and, dipping them in cold water, produce "curls," with which they adorn themselves. This usage, too, is German.
We may speak of the trifling lore of one or two other flowers. A buttercup is held against one child's chin by another, and a bright reflection is supposed (prosaically enough) to indicate a fondness for butter!
It was formerly said in New England that the heart's-ease (Viola tricolor) represented a "step-mother sitting on two chairs." The petals being turned up, the step-mother is seen to have two chairs, her children one each, and her step-children only one between them.
That this flower represents an unkind step-mother is stated in a Low-German rhyme of the fifteenth century; and step-mother is also an English name for the heart's-ease. There is another reason for the title besides that we have given. In Switzerland the flower is considered a type of malice, because the older the flower is the more yellow and "jealous" it becomes. Thus we have another striking example of the original similarity of English and German usage.
Boys in the spring are fond of blowing on the fresh blades of grass, with which they can make a loud but harsh trumpeting. This practice, in Germany, is mentioned at the beginning of the thirteenth century.
It is the custom still for boys to make whistles in the spring from the loosened bark of the willow; but they do not guess that this was originally a superstitious rite, the pipe cut from a tree which grows in the water being supposed to have the power of causing rain. The Swiss children, though unconsciously, still invoke the water-spirit as they separate the bark from the wood:
Franz, Franz,
Lend me your pipe.
No. 44.
Counting Apple-seeds.
The following rhyme, used in New England at the beginning of the present century, remains unchanged in a single word, except the omission of the last three lines.
Apples formerly were an essential part of every entertainment in the country; in the winter season, a dish of such always stood on the sideboard. As the hours went by, a foaming dish of eggnog would be brought in, always with a red-hot poker inserted, for the purpose of keeping up the proper temperature. It was then that the apple, having been properly named, with a fillip of the finger was divided, to decide the fate of the person concerned according to its number of seeds.
One, I love,
Two, I love,
Three, I love, I say,
Four, I love with all my heart,
And five, I cast away;
Six, he loves,
Seven, she loves,
Eight, they both love;
Nine, he comes,
Ten, he tarries,
Eleven, he courts,
Twelve, he marries;
Thirteen wishes,
Fourteen kisses,
All the rest little witches.
No. 45.
Rose in the Garden.
We insert here, on account of the allusions to nature which they contain, several pieces which might also have found a place elsewhere in our collection; the present, for instance, being eminently a "love-game."
A single player stands in the centre of the ring, which circles and sings:
There's a rose in the garden for you, fair man,
There's a rose in the garden for you, fair maid;
There's a rose in the garden, pluck it if you can,
Be sure you don't choose a false-hearted one.
The youth or girl in the centre chooses a partner, and the ring sings:
It's a bargain, it's a bargain, for you, fair man,
It's a bargain, it's a bargain, for you, fair maid.
Now follows a fragment of romance, which in our version is unhappily corrupt:
You promised to marry me six months ago,
I hold you to your bargain, "you old rogue you."
After a kiss, the first player takes his or her place in the ring, and the partner selected is left to continue the game.
Deerfield, Mass. (about 1810).
To the same game, perhaps, belongs the following fragment:
Here stands a red rose in the ring—
Promised to marry a long time ago.
The comparison of a youth or maid to a rose is not uncommon in dances. We have a pretty French example in the Canadian round cited below;[85] and another English instance in our No. 62.
No. 46.
There was a Tree Stood in the Ground.
There was a tree stood in the ground,
The prettiest tree you ever did see;
The tree in the wood, and the wood in the ground;
And the green grass growing all round, round, round,
And the green grass growing all round.
And on this tree there was a limb,
The prettiest limb you ever did see;
The limb on the tree, and the tree in the wood,
The tree in the wood, and the wood in the ground,
And the green grass growing all round, round, round,
And the green grass growing all round.
And on this limb there was a bough,
The prettiest bough you ever did see;
The bough on the limb, and the limb on the tree, etc.
And on this bough there was a twig,
The prettiest twig you ever did see;
The twig on the bough, and the bough on the limb, etc.
And on this twig there was a nest,
The prettiest nest you ever did see;
The nest on the twig, and the twig on the bough, etc.
And in this nest there were some eggs,[86]
The prettiest eggs you ever did see;
The eggs in the nest, and the nest on the twig, etc.
And in the eggs there was a bird,
The prettiest bird you ever did see;
The bird in the eggs, and the eggs in the nest, etc.
And on the bird there was a wing,
The prettiest wing you ever did see;
The wing on the bird, and the bird in the eggs, etc.
And on the wing there was a feather,
The prettiest feather you ever did see;
The feather on the wing, and the wing on the bird, etc.
And on the feather there was some down,
The prettiest down you ever did see;
The down on the feather, and the feather on the wing,
The feather on the wing, and the wing on the bird,
The wing on the bird, and the bird in the eggs,
The bird in the eggs, and the eggs in the nest,
The eggs in the nest, and the nest on the twig,
The nest on the twig, and the twig on the bough,
The twig on the bough, and the bough on the limb,
The bough on the limb, and the limb on the tree,
The limb on the tree, and the tree in the wood,
The tree in the wood, and the wood in the ground,
And the green grass growing all round, round, round,
And the green grass growing all round.
Savannah, Georgia.
This song is not known in the North, and it is equally unrecorded in English nursery-lore, but is very familiar in France (as well as Germany, Denmark, etc.). We are inclined to look on it as an adaptation from the French, made by the children of ÉmigrÉs, like the curious game which makes our next number.[87]
No. 47.
Green!
In parts of Georgia and South Carolina, as soon as a group of girls are fairly out of the house for a morning's play, one suddenly points the finger at a companion with the exclamation, "Green!" The child so accosted must then produce some fragment of verdure, the leaf of a tree, a blade of grass, etc., from the apparel, or else pay forfeit to the first after the manner of "philop$oelig;na." It is rarely, therefore, that a child will go abroad without a bit of "green," the practice almost amounting to a superstition. The object of each is to make the rest believe that the required piece of verdure has been forgotten, and yet to keep it at hand. Sometimes it is drawn from the shoe, or carried in the brooch, or in the garter. Nurses find in the pockets, or in the lining of garments, all manner of fragments which have served this purpose. This curious practice is not known elsewhere in America; but it is mentioned by Rabelais, under the name by which it is still played in parts of Central France, "Je vous prends sans vert"—"I catch you without green." The game, however, is not merely a children's sport, and is played differently from our description. At ChÂtillon-sur-Inde it is during Lent, and only after the singing of the Angelus, that "green" is played. If any lady accost you and shows you her bough, you must immediately exhibit yours. If you have not such a one, or if your green is of a shade less rich than your adversary's, you lose a point; in case of doubt, the matter is referred to an umpire. The game was much in vogue from the thirteenth to the fourteenth century, and is described as a May-game. "During the first days of May, every one took care to carry on his person a little green bough, and those who were not so provided were liable to hear themselves addressed, I catch you without green, and to receive, at the same instant, a pail of water on the head. This amusement, however, was in use only among the members of certain societies, who took the name of Sans-vert. Those who belonged to these had a right to visit each other at any hour of the day, and administer the bath whenever they found each other unprovided. In addition, the members so surprised were condemned to a pecuniary fine, and the income of these fines was devoted to merry repasts which, at certain seasons of the year, united all the comrades of the Sans-vert."[88]
The practice has given to the French language a proverb: to take any one without green, to take him unawares.
Our child's game was doubtless imported by Huguenot immigrants, who established themselves in the states referred to two centuries since, where they long preserved their language and customs, and from whom many well-known families are descended.
