Spanish Highways and Byways

by Katharine Lee Bates

In golden chains they'll swing.

Or sit in silver fetters,

Presents from the King.

Ay, ay!

Presents from the King."

This ironic touch, so characteristically Spanish, reappears in many of the games, as in A La Limón, known throughout the Peninsula and the Antilles. I should expect to find it, too, in corners of Mexico, South America, the Philippines, wherever the Spanish oppressor has trod and the oppressor's children have sported in the sun. The little players, ranged in two rows, each row hand in hand, dance the one toward the other and retreat, singing responsively. With their last couplet, the children of the first line raise their arms, forming arches, and the children of the second line, letting go hands, dance under these arches as they respond.

1. "A la limón, á la limón!

All broken is our bright fountain.

2. "A la limón, á la limón!

Give orders to have it mended.