“Horses out of the Stable” follows. The stones are pushed out with one motion, one beside the other, and then caught up with one sweep as the Jack is tossed. The art consists in getting the stones close together when they leave the stalls, so that they can be grabbed with one sweep while the Jack is up.
“Sweeping the Floor” comes next. The stones are placed four inches apart in a square, and the third finger of the right hand must sweep inside two of the stones without touching them while the Jack is aloft. They must then be gathered and caught with one sweep of the hand.
“Spreading the Table” is done by arranging the square with four stones, as in the preceding set, after which they are pushed together with one sweep and caught in the right hand while the Jack is up.
“Laying Eggs,” called Al-Nat-Ki in Korea, is the next set. American children play it exactly in the same way as do the Asiatics. Four stones are placed on the table, the Jack is tossed, one stone is picked up and laid down while the Jack is in the air. Then another stone is picked up as the Jack is tossed and laid down as before, until all are used. In “Korean Games,” Mr. Culin describes this play, but no reference is made to the preceding sets, although they are played in Europe.
“Setting the Eggs,” or Al-Houm-Ki, calls for four of the stones being placed beside the left hand and pushed under it, as is done in “Peas in the Pot.”
“Hatching the Eggs,” or Al-Kka-Ki, consists in holding all the stones in the right hand, with one tucked under the little finger. This is then dropped gently on the table while the Jack is tossed, the other stones being held in the hand, and this is repeated until all are down.
A good player may work right through the whole number of sets before the opponents have a chance to play at all. Children often arrange handicaps among themselves to prevent this. One peculiarity of the game seems to be that it is a point of honour among the children to take no unfair advantage of each other, but to try to assist and make the others win if possible, and it is one of the few games played by children that seldom lead to quarrelling. There are variations of the sets, but the above is the standard game.
Quite different from the last, which is simply one of skill, is the game known as Jackstraws, which is a primitive game, but it is played all over the world, and is evidently derived from the “arrows of divination.” A set of Chinese Jackstraws in the writer’s collection was made about the middle of the last century, probably for exportation, for some of the straws are European in character. They are of ivory, which is most delicately carved, and are not coloured, as are some of the sets of Chinese Jackstraws that are carved out of bone. They were imported by a naval officer who was on the expedition under Commodore Perry which opened the treaty ports of Japan to American trade.
In this set there are two hooks, for separating the pieces one after another without shaking any of the bunch. The long, slender “straws” are four inches in length. There are eight that are carved to represent Javelins, and eight carved like Spears. They count, respectively, one and two marks if taken from the rest of the pile without shaking. Then there are twenty Straws, counting ten apiece, that are delicately carved, each one entirely different from any of the others. There is a Spade, a hooked Spear, an Arrow, an Axe, a Flag, a Standard, a Halberd, a war Hammer, a Javelin, a Sabre, a Lance, a Sword, a Trident, and a Pitchfork. These all seem to be intended to represent weapons familiar in the antiquated warfare of China. The five European implements are a long-handled Shovel, a pair of Tongs, a Bodkin, a Pen, and a Musket. The skillful player who captures the Tongs counts twenty, since it is twice as difficult to disentangle as any of the other Straws, that are valued at ten marks apiece.