What Shall We Do Now? by Dorothy Canfield Fisher (unputdownable books .TXT) 📕

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ound the chairs in a long line. Suddenly the music stops, and directly it does so every one tries to sit down. As there is one player too many some one must necessarily be left without a chair. That player has therefore to leave the game, another chair is taken away, and the music begins again. So on to the end, a chair and a player going after each round. The winner of the game is the one who, when only one chair is left, gets it. It is against the rules to move the chairs. A piano, it ought to be pointed out, is not absolutely necessary. Any form of music will do; or if there is no instrument some one may sing, or read aloud. But a piano is best, and the pianist ought now and then to pretend to stop, because this makes it more exciting for the players.

Stir the Mash

This is another variety of "Going to Jerusalem." The chairs are placed against the wall in a row, one fewer than the players. One of the players sits down in the middle of the room with a stick and pretends to be stirring a bowl of

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his ground, crying, "Here we are on Tom Tiddler's ground, picking up gold and silver." As Tom still sleeps they grow bolder and bolder until he suddenly awakens and dashes for them. The one that is caught becomes Tom Tiddler. Tom may not cross the boundary-line. Old Stone

Another "Tom Tiddler's Ground." One player crouches down pretending to be a stone. The others run round about her, gradually, as she shows no sign of life, getting nearer and more bold. The stone suddenly leaps up and begins to chase them, and the one caught is the old stone.

Hen and Chickens

Even more exciting than "Tom Tiddler's Ground" is "Hen and Chickens." In this game one player represents a fox and sits on the ground looking sly and hungry. The others, who are the hen and chickens, form a procession, holding each other's skirts or coats by both hands, and march past the fox, saying in turn—

Chickany, chickany, crany crow,
I went to the well to wash my toe,
And when I came back a chicken was dead.

Then they leave go of each other and stand round the fox, and the leader, the hen, says, "What are you doing, old fox?" The fox replies, "Making a fire"; and the conversation goes on like this:—

The Hen: What for? The Fox: To boil some water. The Hen: What is the water for? The Fox: To scald a chicken. The Hen: Where will you get it? The Fox: Out of your flock.

With these words the fox springs up and the hen and chickens run in all directions. The chicken that is caught becomes the new fox, and the old fox is the new hen, the leader of the procession.

The same game is played by Essex children with an old woman in place of the fox, and with different words. In this case the hen and chickens make a procession in front of a player who personates an old weeping woman. As they march by, the hen sings—

Chickens, come clock, come clock, come clock,
Chickens, come clock, come clock, come clock,
The hawks are away and the crows are asleep,
It's time that my chickens had something to eat.

Then they leave go of each other and stand round the old weeping woman, and between her and the hen the following conversation is held:

The Hen: What are you crying for, my poor old woman? The Old Woman: Because I've lost my needle. The Hen: What do you want a needle for? The Old Woman: To sew a bag with. The Hen: What do you want a bag for? The Old Woman: To put salt in. The Hen: What do you want salt for? The Old Woman: To scour a saucepan. The Hen: What do you want a saucepan for? The Old Woman: To boil one of your chickens in.

The old woman then leaps up and tries to catch a chicken, and the hen tries to stop her.

Other Garden Games

Many of the games described in other parts of this book are good also for the garden; such as "Still Pond! No More Moving!" (p. 4), "Puss in the Corner" (p. 7), "Honey-pots" (p. 11), "Nuts in May" (p. 12), "Here I Bake" (p. 13), "Lady Queen Anne" (p. 20), "The Mulberry Bush" (p. 28), and "Looby, Looby" (p. 29).

Witches

"Witches" is a home-made game played thus, according to the description of E. H.—"One player is made witch. A good spot is chosen for home, and here the others wait until the witch has had time to hide. The idea is that the country round is preyed upon by the witch, home being the only place where she has no power. The rest of the children have to explore the witch's country without being caught by her. It must be a point of honor to leave no suspicious place unexamined. The child chosen for witch need not be a particularly fast runner, but she must be clever and a good dodger. Any one that the witch succeeds in touching is at once turned to stone and may not stir except as she is moved about by the witch, who chooses a spot to stand her victim in as far removed from home as possible. The stone can be released only by some other child finding her and dragging her safely home, where the spell ceases to act. But until actually home the victim remains stone, so that if the rescuer is surprised by the witch and lets go her hold, the stone has to stand where she is left and is so recovered by the witch. The witch must not, of course, guard her prisoners too closely. She ought to try and intercept the rescuers on their way home, rather than spring upon them in the act of finding the stone. But each time the stone is recovered the witch may place her in a more inaccessible spot, so that it becomes more and more dangerous to release her. Sometimes at the end of the game all the children are turned to stone in different parts of the garden, but sometimes, of course, a swift runner will outstrip the witch and drag the victim safely home. A clever witch acts the part too—appearing and disappearing suddenly, prowling about in a crouching attitude, making gestures of hate and rage, and so on."

The Ballad Game

Another home-made game is described by E. H. thus:—"The game is taken from the player's favorite ballads. In our play the eldest of the four players, who was also the best organizer, represented the cruel father. The youngest little girl was the fair damsel. The other two represented the wicked lover and the faithful knight, the part of the faithful knight being taken by the fleetest of the party to balance the combination of the father and the wicked lover. The game begins by the fair damsel being imprisoned in the coach-house because she refuses to marry the wicked lover. (Of course any shed would do.) Here she waits until her knight comes to rescue her, and they escape together, pursued by the other two. If the lovers succeed in getting away the story has a happy ending; but the more dramatic ending is the tragic one, when the faithful knight is overtaken, and after killing the cruel father and the wicked lover, himself dies of his wounds, the fair damsel slaying herself with his sword over his dead body.

"The interest of this game is greatly increased by having retainers. These are armies of sticks which are planted at particular corners. There must be some mark by which your own retainers can be distinguished from the enemy's. For instance, the faithful knight may have peeled sticks and the others unpeeled. If, when charging round the house, you come across a troop of the enemy's retainers, you cannot go on until you have thrown them all down, as they are set to guard the pass. So, if the lovers are escaping and they find their way blocked by the father's retainers (the father and the wicked lover may have separate sets of retainers, in which case the war is always bitterest between the two rivals, as the father's retainers are sometimes spared for the damsel's sake), they have to lose time by first overcoming the retainers and that gives time to their pursuers to come up. But if they are so far in advance that they can stop to set up their own retainers in the place of the enemy, it serves to give them further time to make good their escape, as the others have to wait to overthrow the knight's sticks in their turn. In no case are you allowed to take away your enemy's sticks. If the lovers are overtaken, the rivals have to fight, and meanwhile the father once more carries off and imprisons the damsel."

Counting-Out Rhymes

To decide who is to begin a game there are various counting-out rhymes. All the players stand in a circle, surrounding the one who counts. At each pause in the rhyme (which occurs wherever a stroke has been placed in the versions which follow) this one touches the players in turn until the end is reached. The player to whom the last number comes is to begin. This is one rhyme:—

Others:—

Daisy Chains

The old way of making a daisy chain is to split one stalk and thread the next through it up to the head, as in this drawing. That is for out-of-doors. If you are using the chain for decorations indoors, it is perhaps better to cut off the stalks and thread the heads on cotton; but there seems to be no great need to use daisies in this way at all.

Daisy Chain Daisy Chain

An ivy chain is made by passing the stalk of one leaf through the point of another and then bending it round and putting it through the point of its own leaf, the hole thus made being used for the stalk of the next, and so on, as in this drawing.

Ivy Chain Ivy Chain

Flower Show

A flower-show competition is an excellent garden game. A handkerchief on sticks forms the tent. Underneath this is a bed of sand in which the flowers, singly or in groups, can be fixed. Some one can easily be persuaded to come out of the house to act as judge.

Garden Shop

Shop in the garden or out-of-doors is played with various things that resemble articles of food. Thus you can get excellent coffee from sorrel, and capital little bundles of rhubarb can be made by taking a rhubarb leaf and cutting the ribs into stalks. Small stones make very good imitation potatoes, and the heads of marguerite daisies on a plate will easily pass for poached eggs.

Flower Symbols

In this place a word might be said about some of the curious things to be found in flowers and plants. If you cut the stalk of a brake fern low down, in September, you find a spreading oak tree. The pansy contains a picture of a man in a pulpit. A poppy is easily transformed into an old woman in a red gown. The snap-dragon, when its sides are pinched, can be made to yawn. The mallow contains a minute cheese. By blowing the fluff on a dandelion that has run to seed you can tell (more or less correctly) the time of day. An ear of barley will run up your sleeve if the pointed end is laid just within it; and an apple's seeds make exquisite little mice.

Summer Houses

If the garden has no summer-house or tent a very good one can be made with a clothes-horse and a rug.

OUTDOOR GAMES FOR BOYS

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