—London (A. B. Gomme).
In this game the children all follow one who is styled the “mother,” singing:
I’ll follow my mother to market,
To buy a silver basket.
The mother presently turns and catches or pretends to beat them.—Dorsetshire (Folk-lore Journal, vii. 231).
We’ll follow our mother to market,
To buy herself a basket;
When she comes home she’ll break our bones,
We’ll follow our mother to market.
—Hersham, Surrey (Folk-lore Record, v. 84).
A version familiar to me is the same as above, but ending with
For tumbling over cherry stones.
The mother then chased and beat those children she caught. The idea was, I believe, that the children were imitating or mocking their mother (A. B. G.). In Warwickshire the four lines of the Surrey game are concluded by the additional lines—
We don’t care whether we work or no,
We’ll follow our mother on tipty-toe.