ITISKIT, ITASKET
10 to 30 or more players.
Indoors; out of doors.
This is a form of Drop the Handkerchief, differing somewhat in play, and also in that a verse is sung with the game.
All of the players but one stand in a circle with clasped hands; the odd player, carrying a handkerchief, runs around on the outside of the circle, singing the following verse:—
Itiskit, Itasket,
A green and yellow basket;
I wrote a letter to my love
And on the way I dropped it.
Some one of you has picked it up
And put it in your pocket;
It isn't you—it isn't you—
This last phrase is repeated until the player reaches one behind whom he wishes to drop the handkerchief, when he says, "It is you!" and immediately starts on a quick run around the circle.
Itiskit, Itasket
The one behind whom the handkerchief was dropped picks it up and at once starts around the circle in the opposite direction, the object being to see which of the two shall first reach the vacant place. The one who is left out takes the handkerchief for the next round.
Should a circle player fail to discover that the handkerchief has been dropped behind him until the one who has dropped it has walked or run entirely around the circle, he must yield his place in the circle to the handkerchief man, changing places with him.