J. F. Campbell Collection > Popular rhymes of Scotland

254 POPULAR RHYMES OF SCOTLAND.
A party of boys take a few straws, and endeavour to hold
one between the chin and the turned down under lip, pro-
nouncing the following- rhyme : —
I bought a beard at Lammas fair ;
It's a' awa' but ae hair —
AVag, beardie, wag !
He who repeats this oftenest without dropping the straw, is
held to have won the game.
In the days of villeinage, when a freeman gave up his
liberty, put himself under the protection of a master, and
became his man, he took hold of his own fore-top, and so
handed himself over to his future lord. This very signifi-
cant formula is still preserved among children, one of whom
takes hold of the fore-top of another, and says —
Tappie, tappie tousie, will ye be my man ?
If the answer is ' no,' the first speaker pushes back the re-
cusant against the hair, saying contemptuously —
Gae fae me, gae fae me, gae fae me !
If he says ' ay,' he pulls the slave towards him, and says —
Come to me, come to me, come to me !
A boy folds in the fingers of one hand, so as to leave a
space, which is denominated the corbie's hole. He disposes
one or two of the sharpest-nailed fingers of the other in
such a way as to close hard in upon anything which might
come into the hole, and invites the fingers of his companions
into the trap prepared for them, in the following words : —
Put your finger in the corbie's hole,
The corbie's no at liame ;
The corbie's at the back-door,
Pykin at a bane.
A most treacherous instance, however, of the sinful lie of
' Not at Home ! ' — for the instant that a single finger enters
the hole, the nails which lie in wait for its reception spring
upon it, and give it a hearty pinching.
A game on the fingers, chiefly for girls —
This is my lady's knife and fork,
This is my lady's table,
This is my lady's looking-glass.
And this is the baby's cradle.