Chorus of Maidens (curtseying).
We will go to the wood and gather flowers,
We will get pins to pin our clothes,
You will get nails to nail your toes.
Cats and kittens bide within,
But we, young maidens, come out and in.
The inference being that the chosen maiden is still free until the suitor can try again, and is fortunate enough to indicate the right maiden.
If this conjectural restoration of the verses be accepted on the evidence, it would suggest that this game originated from one of the not uncommon customs practised at weddings or betrothals—when the suitor has to discriminate between several girls all dressed precisely alike and distinguish his bride by some token. (See “[King William].”) This incident of actual primitive custom also obtains in folk tales, thus showing its strong hold upon popular tradition, and hence increasing the probability that it would reappear in games. It must be remembered that the giving of gloves was a significant fact in betrothals.
This game is said by some to have its origin in the use of the sedan chair. A version taken from a newspaper cutting (unfortunately I had not recorded the name and date, but think it was probably the Leeds Mercury some years ago) gives the following rhyme. The writer does not say whether he knows it as a game—
Lady Lucan she sits in a sedan,
As fair as a lily, as white as a swan;
A pair of green gloves to doff and to don.
My mistress desires you will read one,
I can’t read one without them all,
So I pray this hand decline the ball.
In this version there is still the puzzle to solve, or riddle to read.[Addendum]
Queen Mary
[[Play]]
