Eccleshall version, played as a game by the schoolgirls. See the Nursery Rhymes of England, p. 114.
Suitors.
Here come two dukes all out of Spain,
A courting to your daughter Jane.
Mother.
My daughter Jane, she is so young,
She can't abide your flattering tongue.
Suitor.
Let her be young or let her be old,
It is the price, she must be sold
Either for silver or for gold.
So, fare you well, my lady gay,
For I must turn another way.
Mother.
Turn back, turn back, you Spanish knight,
And rub your spurs till they be bright.
Suitor.
My spurs they are of a costliest wrought,
And in this town they were not bought;
Nor in this town they won't be sold,
Neither for silver nor for gold.
So, fare you well, my lady gay,
For I must turn another way.
Through the kitchen, and through the hall,
And take the fairest of them all;
The fairest is, as I can see,
Pretty Jane, come here to me.
Now I've got my pretty fair maid,
Now I've got my pretty fair maid
To dance along with me—
To dance along with me!
There is a different version in Cambridgeshire, but the girl recollects it so imperfectly, and only two stanzas, that I cannot depend upon their being correct.
Here come three lords dressed all in green,
For the sake of your daughter Jane.
My daughter Jane she is so young,
She learns to talk with a flattering tongue.
Let her be young, or let her be old,
For her beauty she must be sold.
My mead's not made, my cake's not baked,
And you cannot have my daughter Jane.
[HEWLEY-PULEY.]
The children are seated and the following questions put by one of the party, holding a twisted handkerchief or something of the sort in the hand. The handkerchief was called hewley-puley, and the questions are asked by the child who holds it. If one answered wrongly, a box on the ear with the handkerchief was the consequence; but if they all replied correctly, then the one who broke silence first had that punishment.
Take this! What's this?—Hewley-puley.
Where's my share?—About the kite's neck.
Where's the kite?—Flown to the wood.
Where's the wood?—The fire has burned it.
Where's the fire?—The water has quenched it.
Where's the water?—The ox has drunk it.
Where's the ox?—The butcher has killed it.
Where's the butcher?—The rope has hanged him.
Where's the rope?—The rat has gnawed it.
Where's the rat?—The cat has killed it.
Where's the cat?—Behind the church door,
cracking pebble-stones and marrow-bones
for yours and my supper,
and the one who speaks first
shall have a box on the ear.
[THE DIAMOND RING.]
Children sit in a ring or in a line, with their hands placed together palm to palm, and held straight, the little fingers downmost between the knees. One of them is then chosen to represent a servant, who takes a ring, or some other small article as a substitute, between her two palms, which are pressed flat together like those of the rest, and goes round the circle or line, placing her hands into the hands of every player, so that she is enabled to let the ring fall wherever she pleases without detection. After this, she returns to the first child she touched, and with her hands behind her exclaims,—
My lady's lost her diamond ring:
I pitch upon you to find it!