Who goes round the house at night?
None but Bloody Tom.
Tack care an’ tack nane o’ my chickens awa’!
None but this poor one.
—Keith (Rev. W. Gregor).
Johnny, Johnny Ringo,
Don’t steal all my faun sheep.
Nob but one by one,
Whaul they’re all done.
—Easther’s Almondbury Glossary.
Who’s going round my stone wall?
Only an old witch.
Don’t take any of my bad chickens!
No, only this one.
—Hanbury, Staffs. (Miss E. Hollis).
(b) The players stand in a circle, but they do not necessarily hold hands, nor do they move round. One player kneels or stands in the centre, and another walks round outside the circle. The child in the centre asks the questions, and the child outside (Johnny Lingo) replies. When the last answer is given, the outside player, or Johnny Lingo, touches one of the circle on the back; this player, without speaking, then follows Johnny Lingo and stands behind her holding her by her dress, or round the waist. The dialogue is then repeated, and another child taken. This is continued until all the circle are behind Johnny Lingo. Then the child in the centre tries to catch one of them, and Johnny Lingo tries to prevent it; as soon as one player is caught she stands aside, and when all are caught the game is over.
This is the usual way of playing. The variations are: in [Galloway], [Enbourne], [Keith], and [Hanbury], the centre player shuts her eyes, or is blindfolded. In the [Almondbury version], when the centre child gets up to look for his sheep, and finds them (they do not stand behind Johnny Ringo, but hide), they run about “baaing;” when he catches them he pretends to cut their heads off. In [Chambers’s description] of the game, all the players except two sit upon the ground in a circle (sitting or lying down also obtains at [Barnes]), one of the two stands inside, and the other personates “Bloody Tom.” Bloody Tom tries to carry off a player after the dialogue has been said, and the centre child tries to prevent this one from being taken, and the rest of the circle “cower more closely round him.” In the [Macduff version], when all the players have been taken, the centre child runs about crying, “Where are all my chickens?” Some of the “chickens,” on hearing this, try to run away from “Limping Tom” to her, and he tries to prevent them. He puts them all behind him in single file, and the centre child then tries to catch them; when she catches them all she becomes Limping Tom, and he the shepherd or hen. Dr. Gregor says ([Keith])—The game is generally played by boys; the keeper kneels or sits in the middle of the circle; when all the sheep are gone, and he gets no answers to his questions, he crawls away still blindfolded, and searches for the lost sheep. The first player he finds becomes keeper, and he becomes Bloody Tom. In the [Winterton version] (No. I.) there is a further dialogue. The game is played in the usual way at the beginning. When Jacko Lingo says, “Follow me” (he had previously, when saying one by one and two by two, &c., touched three children on their back in turn), the third one touched leaves the ring, and stands behind him holding his clothes or waist. This is done until all the children forming the circle are holding on behind him. The child in the centre then asks the next question. When she says, “Here’s my black sheep,” she tries to dodge behind Jacky Lingo, and catch the child behind him. When she has done this she begins again at “Have you seen anything of my black sheep,” until she has caught all the children behind Jacky Lingo. In two versions, [Deptford] and [Bocking], there is no mention of a player being in the centre, but this is an obvious necessity unless the second player stands also outside the circle. In the [Raunds version] the ring moves slowly round. In the [Hants version] (Miss Mendham) the children sit in a line. The thief takes one at a time and hides them, and the shepherd pulls them out of their hiding-places. In the [Shropshire game], the chickens crouch down behind their mother, holding her gown, and the fox walks round them.