[Then follow verses the same as in the [Barnes version, No. 1], and then—]
Rise up, rise up, poor Mary Brown,
To see the poor beggars go through the town.
I will not stand up upon my feet
To see the poor beggars go through the street.
[Two other verses are sometimes added, introducing gentleman and ladies. All versions, however, conclude with the girl saying—]
Rise up, rise up, poor Mary Brown,
And see your poor sweetheart go through the town.
I will get up upon my feet,
To see my sweetheart go through the street.
—Halliwell’s Nursery Rhymes, p. 218.
(b) The children form a ring, one child laying or kneeling down in the centre. The ring sing the first, third, fifth, and alternate verses; the girl in the middle answers with the second, fourth, and so on alternately. At the last verse the girl jumps up and breaks through the ring by force; another girl takes her place in the ring, and the game begins again. The [Sussex version] of “Mary Brown” (Chas. Wise) is played by the children standing in line and advancing and retiring towards the lying or kneeling child. The [Barnes version] of “Rise, Daughter” is also played in this way. The “daughter” lays down, and at the end of the game joins the line, and another lays down. In the [Hurstmonceux version], when the last verse is sung, the girl in the middle rises and picks a boy out of the ring; he goes in the middle with her, and they kiss. The version given by [Halliwell] is played in the same way as the [Barnes version].
(c) Halliwell (Game Rhymes, p. 219) gives a version of a Swedish ballad or ring dance-song, entitled “Fair Gundela,” he considers this may be a prototype of the English game, or that they may both be indebted to a more primitive original. The Swedish game rather gives the idea of a maiden who has sought supernatural assistance from a wise woman, or witch, to ask after the fate of those dear to her, and the English versions may also be dramatic renderings of a ballad of this character. Mr. Jacobs’ More English Fairy Tales, p. 221, considers this game to have originated from the Tale of the “Golden Ball.”