Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 4 1886.djvu/146

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138
CHILDREN'S AMUSEMENTS.

Ee winky,
Broo brinky,
An ower the hill, and tack pinky." (Pitsligo.)

(c)—"Tae titlum,
Fit fitlum,
Knee knaps,
Hinch haps." (Strichen.)


II.

1.—"Brack the Barn."

The nurse or mother takes the child's hand, and touches the thumb and fingers, one by one, and, modulating the voice to suit the conduct of each, repeats the following words, laying a particularly mournful stress on the words referring to the little finger to call forth sympathy for the weak: [1]

(a)—"This is the man it brack the barn,
This is the man it stealt the corn,
This is the man it eat it a',
This is the man it ran awa',
Peer little cranie paid for't a'."

(b)—"This is the man it brack the barn,
This is the man it stealt the corn,
This is the man it taul' a',
This is the man it ran awa',
Peer cranie dot paid for't a'."

(c)—"This is the man it brack the barn,
This is the man it stealt the corn,
This is the man it ran awa',
This is the man it tellt a',
Peer little cranie paid for a',
An got naething." (Mrs. Moir, Kinnethmont.)

(d)—"This is the man it brack the barn,
This is the man it sta' the corn,
This is the man it ran awa',
This is the man it taul' a',
This is peer little cranie dodie,
It steed at the back o' the door, an paid for a'."
(Mrs. Gardiner, Banff.)

  1. Popular Rhymes of Scotland, by R. Chambers, p. 20. Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Tales of England, by Halliwell, cccxxxix. and cccxlii. p. 72, and p. 207.