—Deptford, Kent (Miss Chase).
II.
I’ve come for one of your daughters,
With a ring a ding a my dolly;
I’ve come for one of your daughters
On this bright shining night.
Pray, which have you come for,
With a ring a ding a my dolly?
Pray which have you come for
On this bright shining night?
I’ve come for your daughter Mary,
With a ring a ding a my dolly;
I’ve come for your daughter Mary
On this bright shining night.
Then take her, and welcome,
With a ring a ding a my dolly;
Then take her, and welcome,
On this bright shining night [incomplete].
—Sheffield (S. O. Addy).
(b) A number of children stand against a wall, and a row of other children face them. They walk backwards and forwards, singing the first and third verses. Then the children who are standing still (against the wall) answer by singing the second and fourth verses. When these are sung the moving line of children take Mary and dance round, singing “some lines which my informant,” says Mr. Addy, “has forgotten.”
(c) I have no description of the way Miss Chase’s game is played. It, too, is probably an incomplete version. The words “Ring ding di do do “show a possible connection between this and games of the “[Three Dukes a-riding]” type. They may or may not be variants of the same game.
See “[Here comes a Lusty Wooer],” “[Here comes a Virgin],” “[Jolly Rover],” “[Three Dukes].”