An Italian finger-game well exhibits the different mental state of children in the two countries. The words are: "This is the Inferno, and this the Paradiso." The fingers of the two hands, crossed within, represent the disturbed world of wretchedness; the back of the hands, turned, where all is calm, typify Paradise.
No. 80.
What Color?
A tumbler of water and a thimble are required. One child is sent out of the room, and to each of the others a different color is allotted. The first is then expected to name the color of some child. If she succeeds in her guess, a thimbleful of water is thrown in her face. The guessing is continued till this takes place, when the thrower becomes the guesser for the next turn.
Cincinnati.
No. 81.
Beetle and Wedge.
There are games in which the guesser has only Scogan's choice[91] between two sorts of disaster.
Thus, a party of boys pitch on two who are unacquainted with the game, and ask them if they would not like to play "Beetle and Wedge." "The fun is to be the Beetle and the Wedge," they explain. The victims consenting, the Beetle is then driven against the Wedge, back to back, with a force that "sends him flying." This amusement belongs to Connecticut.
In Philadelphia a boy is asked whether he prefers mustard or pepper; in either case receiving corresponding personal inflictions. So in the English game of "Trades" a boy is made to guess the trade of the questioner, and is hammered, planed, or rasped, accordingly.