Each child caught drops out, and as the line grows shorter the struggle becomes desperate.
Georgia.
This latter way of playing is the older form of the game, and is also familiar, though without words, in the North, where it is known as "Fox and Chickens."
This game is one of the most widely diffused, and the dialogue is marvellously identical, from Russia to Italy.
In Schleswig-Holstein the conversation runs thus:
"Hawk, what are you lighting?"
"A fire."
"What is the fire for?"
"To make ashes."
"What are the ashes for?"
"To sharpen a knife."
"What is the knife for?"
"To cut off chickens' heads."
"What have the chickens done?"
"Gone into my master's corn."
In our own country, among the Pennsylvania Germans, or, to use their own agreeable idiom, "De Pennsylfaunisch Deitsch," this game enjoys the distinction of being almost the only child's game which is accompanied by words, and is played as follows:
A boy who is digging in the earth is accosted by a second, who carries a handful of sticks, the longest of which represents the needle:
"Woy, woy, was grawbst?"
"Meine Moder hat erne silberne Nodel verloren."
"Is sie des?"
"Ne."
"Is sie des?"
"Ne."
"Is sie des?"
"Yaw."[98]
The stooping child now rises and pursues the rest.