Long before the wagons were in sight the children were heard, for song followed song all the way back, they explained.
"It seems as if I was a boy again," said an old man, as the words "We'll not go home till morning" reached us, just before the wagons came in sight.
And when, with springing feet, the merry girls and boys jumped out, they were all so earnest to tell the story of the day that everybody talked at once. However, we learned that games were their chief sport, and that the rope now taken out of the wagon was first used for the Crown Game:
A girl enters the ring; all the others take firm hold of the rope. No sooner is she in than they skip about her, keeping the rope in motion. As they skip they sing, to the tune of "Auld Lang-syne,"
"Who'll crown our queen, our merry queen,
Who'll crown our queen to-day?
Who'll crown our queen, our merry queen,
Who'll crown our queen to-day?"
When this is sung the children stop skipping just where they are. And at once one of the boys puts his head under the rope, and, standing by the queen, replies, "I will." Then raising a crown of wild flowers, he puts it on her head. No sooner is she crowned than she blindfolds the boy, and another girl enters, thus making two girls in the ring. The game is to "tag" the right girl before the other players count nine. When the boy "tags" the girl, he must at once say whether or not she is the queen, and if he makes a mistake he must remain in the ring and try again. The first girl withdraws, the second girl is crowned queen, and the game is repeated. But should he make no mistake, the boy remains in the ring, is crowned king, and the game goes on, only that two boys are in the ring when a girl is blindfolded.
Another rope game was called the Guess.
Put a rope on the ground in the form of a circle; in the centre put a stone about the size of a duck's egg. The players stand backwards around the rope, with their heels touching it. Each one in turn throws a grace-hoop over his right shoulder, with the hope it will encircle the stone. As soon as the hoop is thrown all may turn and see the position. If the hoop encircles the stone the player may try again and again, until he fails, counting one for each time. Then the party to his right tries, and so on all around the rope. Whoever has the largest count wins the game.
This game is also played facing the stone; it is then no longer a game of guess, but a game of skill.
After the rope games, one of the boys taught a German game called Urbar, which he said was really a play on the word bear.