Here’s a couple got married together,
Father and mother they must agree;
Love each other like sister and brother,
I pray this couple to kiss together.
It is curious to discover that the village children of Devonshire find amusement in the same game. I transcribe the words sung at the school-feast of Chudleigh Knighton in that county, A.D. 1878, when “Sally Walker” seemed very popular. The first line is remarkable as apparently referring to some form of incantation
Sally, Sally Walker, sprinkle water in the pan,
Rise Sally, rise Sally, and seek your young man,
Turn to the east and turn to the west
And choose the one that you love best.
(The pair kiss.)
Now you’re married we wish you joy,
First a girl and then a boy,
Seven years after a son and a daughter,
So young lovers kiss together.
The following verses which accompany another game were communicated to me by Mr. Joseph Crawhall, but I well remember singing them with my young companions in my childhood. They are said to have been very popular on the Borders.
Dissy, dissy green grass,
Dissy, dissy duss,
Come all ye pretty fair maids
And dance along with us.
You shall have a duck, my dear,
And you shall have a drake,
And you shall have a nice young man,
To love you for your sake.
If this young man should chance to die
And leave the girl a widow,
The birds shall sing, the bells shall ring,
Clap all your hands together.
(Ending with a clapping of hands.)
Schools, too, have their superstitions and their legendary rites. One odd school-boy notion is that if the master’s cane is nicked at the upper end, and a hair inserted, it will on its first use split to the very tip. In my own day, and perhaps at the present
