If the ember or lighted stick goes out whilst any one is twirling it round, and whilst the lines are being said, he has to lie on the floor, when stones, chairs, or other articles of furniture are piled upon him.—S. O. Addy.
Mactaggart calls it “[Preest Cat],” and says that it is an ingleside game. A piece of stick is made red in the fire; one hands it to another, saying—
About wi’ that, about wi’ that,
Keep alive the preest cat.
Then round is handed the stick, and whomsoever’s hand it goes out in, that one is in a wad, and must kiss the crook, the cleps, and what not, ere he gets out of it.
Lilly cuckoo, lilly cuckoo,
Sticks and stanes lie at thy weary banes
If thou fa’, for a’ I blaw,
Lilly cuckoo, lilly cuckoo.
This rhyme is common in the “[Preest Cat]” sport toward the border. Anciently, when the priest’s cat departed this life, wailing began in the country side, as it was thought it became some supernatural being—a witch, perhaps, of hideous form—so to keep it alive was a great matter.—Mactaggart’s Gallovidian Encyclopædia.
He also refers to a game called “Robin-a-Ree,” much like “[Preest Cat],” only in passing the burnt stick round the ring the following rhyme is said—
Robin-a-Ree, ye’ll no dee wi’ me,
Tho’ I birl ye roun’ three times and three;
O Robin-a-Ree, O Robin-a-Ree,
O dinna let Robin-a-Reerie dee.
Robin-a-Ree occurs in an old song.—Mactaggart’s Gallovidian Encyclopædia.
In Cornwall it is known as “Robin’s a-light,” and is played around the fire. A piece of stick is set on fire and whirled around rapidly in the hand of the first player, who says, “Robin’s a-light, and if he go out I will saddle your back.” It is then passed to the next, who says the same thing, and so on. The person who lets the spark die out has to pay a forfeit.—Scilly (Courtney’s West Cornwall Glossary). A rhyme at Lostwithiel is known as follows—