A similar dialogue is used for a game of chase in New York:
"Old mother, what are you looking for?"
"A needle."
"What do you want a needle for?"
"To sew my bag with."
"What do you want your bag for?"
"To keep my steel in."
"What do you want your steel for?"
"To sharpen my knife to cut off your head."
In the same spirit, the Venetian game has:
"Sister, what are you looking for?"
"A knife to kill you with."
Whereupon she pursues the questioners. In this version we find also the inquiry about the hour, the putting of the pot on the fire, the searching for the knife, and final scattering.
The Finns on the Baltic coast, too, have the game in the form of a long song, beginning,
Close together! see the hawk yon!
Close together! see his talons?
Which exactly corresponds to the Scotch,
Keep in, keep in, wherever ye be—
The greedy gled is seeking ye!