Over the water at the hour of ten,
I’ll meet you with five thousand men;
Over the water at the hour of five,
I’ll meet you there if I’m alive,
are portions of a dialogue familiar to Mr. Emslie, and also occur in some mumming plays. It may also be noted that the curing of illness or death from a stab is an incident in these plays, as is also the method of playing. The first lines are similar to those of “[Lady on the Mountain],” which see.
Lag
A number of boys put marbles in a ring, and then they all bowl at the ring. The one who gets nearest has the first shot at the marbles. He has the option of either “knuckling doon” and shooting at the ring from the prescribed mark, or “ligging up” (lying up)—that is, putting his taw so near the ring that if the others miss his taw, or miss the marbles in the ring, he has the game all to himself next time. If, however, he is hit by the others, he is said to be “killed.”—Addy’s Sheffield Glossary.
Lammas
A party of boys take a few straws, and endeavour to hold one between the chin and the turned-down under-lip, pronouncing the following rhyme—
I bought a beard at Lammas fair,
It’s a’ awa’ but ae hair;
Wag, beardie, wag!
He who repeats this oftenest without dropping the straw is held to have won the game (Chambers’ Popular Rhymes, p. 115). This game-rhyme has an interesting reference to Lammas, and it may also refer to the hiring of servants. Brockett (North Country Words, p. 221) says, “At a fair or market where country servants are hired, those who offer themselves stand in the market-place with a piece of straw or green branch in their mouths to distinguish them.”
Lamploo
A goal having been selected and bounds determined, the promoters used to prepare the others by calling at the top of their voices—