Jack’s alive, and likely to live;
If he die in my hand a pawn (forfeit) I’ll give.
—(J. W.)
Jamieson (Dictionary) says, “To do ‘Dingle-dousie,’ a stick is ignited at one end and given as a plaything to a child.” Elworthy (West Somerset Words) does not give this as a game, but says a burning stick was whirled round and round very quickly, so as to keep up the appearance of a ribbon of fire. Miss Burne (Shropshire Folk-lore, p. 530), says, “Children wave a burning stick in the air, saying—
A girdle o’ gold, a saddle o’ silk,
A horse for me as white as milk,
an evident relic of divinations or incantations practised with bonfires.” Halliwell (Nursery Rhymes, p. 213) gives the rhyme as—
Jack’s alive, and in very good health,
If he dies in your hand you must look to yourself;
the game being played in the same way as the Sheffield version (see also Halliwell’s Dictionary and Moor’s Suffolk Words).
(b) This is a very significant game, and its similarity in miniature to the old tribal custom of carrying the fiery cross to rouse the clans at once suggests the possible origin of it. The detention of the fiery cross through neglect or other impediment was regarded with much dread by the inhabitants of the place in which it should occur. This subject is discussed in Gomme’s Primitive Folkmoots, p. 279 et seq.[Addendum]
Jack, Jack, the Bread’s a-burning
Jack, Jack, the bread’s a-burning,
All to a cinder;
If you don’t come and fetch it out
We’ll throw it through the winder.