Gipsy
I charge my children, every one,
To keep good house while I am gone.
You, and you [points], but specially you
[or sometimes, but specially Sue],
Or else I’ll beat you black and blue.
One child is selected for Gipsy, one for Mother, and one for Daughter Sue. The Mother says the lines, and points to several children to emphasise her words. During her absence the Gipsy comes in, entices a child away, and hides her. This process is repeated till all the children are hidden, when the mother has to find them.—Halliwell (Nursery Rhymes, p. 228).
See “[Mother, Mother, the Pot Boils Over],” “[Witch].”
Gled-wylie
The name of a singular game played at country schools. One of the largest of the boys steals away from his comrades, in an angry-like mood, to some dykeside or sequestered nook, and there begins to work as if putting a pot on a fire. The others seem alarmed at his manner, and gather round him, when the following dialogue takes place:—
They say first to him—
What are ye for wi’ the pot, gudeman?
Say what are ye for wi’ the pot?
We dinna like to see ye, gudeman,
Sae thrang about this spot.
We dinna like ye ava, gudeman,
We dinna like ye ava.
Are ye gaun to grow a gled, gudeman?
And our necks draw and thraw?
He answers—