The most pleasing amusement of this kind is the game of "face-tapping," the nurse tapping each feature as she sings these lines,—
Here sits the lord mayor (forehead),
Here sit his two men (eyes);
Here sits the cock (right cheek),
Here sits the hen (left cheek).
Here sit the little chickens (tip of nose),
Here they run in (mouth);
Chinchopper, chinchopper,
Chinchopper, chin (chucking the chin)!
Similar songs are common in the North of Europe. A Danish one is given by Thiele, iii. 130:
Pandebeen,
Oisteen,
Næsebeen,
Mundelip,
Hagetip,
Dikke, dikke, dik.
Brow-bone,
Eye-stone,
Nose-bone,
Mouth-lip,
Chin-tip,
Dikke, dikke, dik!
The nurse, while repeating the last line, tickles the child under the chin. A German version, now common at Berlin, is printed by M. Kuhn, in his article on Kinderlieder, p. 237:
Kinnewippchen,
Rothlippchen,
Nasendrippchen,
Augenthränechen,
Ziep ziep Maränechen.
The following lines are repeated by the nurse when sliding her hand down the child's face:
My mother and your mother
Went over the way;
Said my mother to your mother,
It's chop-a-nose day!
[KNEE-SONGS.]
This is the way the ladies ride;
Tri, tre, tre, tree,
Tri, tre, tre, tree!
This is the way the ladies ride,
Tri, tre, tre, tri-tre-tre-tree!
This is the way the gentlemen ride;
Gallop-a-trot,
Gallop-a-trot!
This is the way the gentlemen ride,
Gallop-a gallop-a-trot!
This is the way the farmers ride,
Hobbledy-hoy,
Hobbledy-hoy!
This is the way the farmers ride,
Hobbledy hobbledy-hoy!