"This is too black, and that is too brown,
And this is the fairest in the town."
The only part of the country, so far as we know, in which the game now survives is the neighborhood of Cincinnati, where it is still played in a reduced but original form:
"Here comes a knight, a knight of Spain,
To court your daughter, lady Jane."
"My lady Jane, she is too young,
To be controlled by flattering tongue."
"Be she young or be she old,
Her beauty's fair, she must be sold."
"Go back, go back, you Spanish man,
And choose the fairest in the land."
"The fairest one that I can see,
Is [Annie Hobart] to walk with me."
The game now proceeds, "Here come two knights," then with three, four, etc., till all the players are mated.[35]
It will be proper to add some account of the comparative history of this curious game. The English and Scotch versions, though generally less well preserved, correspond to our American. But we find a more primitive type in Iceland, where it is, or a few years ago was, an amusement of winter evenings, played not by children, but by men and women, in a form which indicates a high antiquity. The women ask the men, as these advance, what they desire? The latter reply, "a maid," that is, wife. The inquiry now is, what will they give? It is answered, stone. This tender is scornfully refused, and the suitors retire in dudgeon, but return to raise their offer, and at last proffer gold, which is accepted, and the controversy ends in a dance.[36]