Country Children’s Rhymes

Country children often repeat certain rhymes when they meet with some particular insect or other creature; or when they hear the note of some familiar bird. In the latter case, the words used are sometimes intended as a gloss on the cry of the bird, as for example: Steal two coos, Taffy, Steal two coos, which is what the wood-pigeon says, according to the Welshman’s story, when he was asked why he stole the cows. When Berkshire children hear the wood-pigeon they sing: My toe bleeds, Betty! My toe bleeds, Betty! Northamptonshire children on hearing the blackbird, sing: Draw the knave a cup of beer, Be quick, quick, quick! In many dialects the generic name for a moth is miller, but the term is more specially applied to large white moths. When children catch such a one they sing: Millery, millery, doustipoll, How many zacks hast thee astole? Vow’r an’ twenty, and a peck; Hang the miller up by’s neck (Hmp.); Miller, miller, blow your horn! You shall be hanged for stealing corn (Shr.). A woodlouse is called Granfer Grig (Wil. Som.), and the following are the lines to a woodlouse to make it curl up: Granfer Grig killed a pig, Hung un up in corner; Granfer cried and Piggy died, And all the fun was over. There are several rhymes addressed to snails in various localities, for example: Snarley-’orn, put out your corn, Father and mother’s dead (Som.); Sneely-snawl, put out your horn, The beggars are coming to steal your corn, At six o’clock in the morning (Lin.); Snag, snag, put out your horn, And I will give you a barleycorn (Sus.); Hodmadod, hodmadod, pull out your horns, Here comes a beggarman to cut off your corns (Suf.). Children in Northumberland call a scarlet ladybird a sodger. When they have caught one they throw it up in the air and say: Reed, reed sodger, fly away, And make the morn a sunny day. But the commonest rhyme addressed to a ladybird is: Cowlady, cowlady, hie thee way whum! Thy haase is afire, thy childer all gone, All but poor Nancy set under a pan, Wavin’ gold lace as fast as she can (Yks.). There are versions of this rhyme in various dialects. To irritate turkeys boys will shout at them: Bubbly Jock, Bubbly Jock, Bubbly Jock the satter, Yor faithor’s deed, yor mother’s deed, ye canna flee nae fawthor (Nhb.); or: Lubber, lubber-leet, Look at your dirty feet (Cor.); or: What d’ye hang yer vather wi’? to which the turkey is supposed to reply, Holter, holter, holter. When a Lincolnshire hen cackles she is believed to say: Cuca, cuca, cayit, I’ve laid an egg, cum ta’ it. Norfolk boys scare rooks and crows from corn by shouting: Bird, a bird, a wook, Here come the clappers To knock ye down back’ards. Carwo! Carwoo—oh!

Rustic Riddles

To wind up my chapter I will add a few rustic riddles: Tweea lookers, twea crookers, fower dilly danders, four stiff standers, an’ a wig-wam (Wm. Lan.). Ans. A cow. Clink, clank doon the bank, Ten again four; Splish, splash in the dish, Till it run ower (Nhb.). Ans. The milking of a cow. Creep-hedge, crop-thorn; Little cow with the leather horn (Yks.). Ans. A hare. The bat, the bee, the butterflee, the cuckoo, and the gowk, The heather-bleat, the mire-snipe, hoo many birds is that (Sc. Irel.)? Ans. Two. So black’s my ’at, so white’s my cap, Magotty pie, and what’s that (Som.)? This is a kind of jibe-riddle asked of very stupid persons. The common dialect expression to come to, meaning to cost, gives rise to the following version of a well-known arithmetical problem: If a herrin’ and a half come to dree ’aa-pence, what will a hundred o’ coal come to? Ans. Ashes. What’s the smallest thing as is sold alive in markut? Ans. A mint

CHAPTER XIX
WEATHER LORE AND FARMING TERMS

‘There was no information for which Dr. Johnson was less grateful than for that which concerned the weather.... If any one of his intimate acquaintance told him it was hot or cold, wet or dry, windy or calm, he would stop them by saying, “Poh! poh! you are telling us that of which none but men in a mine or a dungeon can be ignorant. Let us bear with patience, or enjoy in quiet, elementary changes, whether for the better or the worse, as they are never secrets.”’
Burney, Boswell’s Life of Johnson, G. Birkbeck Hill, vol. iv, p. 360.

In all ranks of life the weather is the one great topic for casual conversations and salutations; and thanks to the blessed uncertainty of our English climate we have a wide field, and seldom need to repeat the same remark two days running. Dialect-speakers, however, have the advantage over us of the standard language, in that they possess so many good descriptive adjectives and metaphorical expressions which we lack. The rustic, moreover, accepts the weather as he finds it, and puts plain facts into words, he does not abuse unalterable conditions in the way we are so apt to do, as if a cold wind, or drizzling rain were a personal insult not to be borne. Sometimes we even descend to unadulterated slang, as did the two charming and well-dressed maidens I once heard greet each other in the street thus: ‘Awful weather, isn’t it!’ said the one. ‘Beastly!’ retorted the other, and they passed on. One was reminded of the girl in the fairy-tale who was condemned for her sins to let fall a toad each time she opened her mouth to speak.

Phrases describing the Weather