The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland Volume I Part 89

Get the prop and follow them.

-Sheffield (Miss Lucy Garnett).

VIII. Mother, buy some milking-cans, Milking-cans, milking-cans.

Where must our money come from?

Sell our father's feather bed.

[This goes on for many more verses, articles of furniture being mentioned in each succeeding verse.]

-Earls Heaton (Herbert Hardy).

IX. Buy me a milking-pail, my dear mother.

Where's the money to come from, my dear daughter?

Sell father's feather bed.

Where could your father sleep?

Sleep in the pig-sty.

What's the pigs to sleep in?

Put them in the was.h.i.+ng-tub.

What could I wash the clothes in?

Wash them in your thimble.

Thimble isn't big enough for baby's napkin.

Wash them in a saucer.

A saucer isn't big enough for father's s.h.i.+rt.

Wash by the river side, wash by the river side.

-Crockham Hill, Kent (Miss Chase).

X. Please, mother, buy me a milking-can, Milking-can, milking-can, Please, mother, buy me a milking-can, My dear mother.

Where can I get the money from?

Sell father's feather bed.

Where shall your father sleep?

Sleep in the boys' bed.

Where shall the boys sleep?

Sleep in the pig-sty.

Where shall the pigs sleep?

Sleep in the was.h.i.+ng-tub.

What shall I wash with?

Wash in an egg-sh.e.l.l.

The egg-sh.e.l.l will break.

Wash in a thimble.

Thimble's not big enough.

Wash by the river side.

Suppose the things should float away?

Get a boat and go after them.

Suppose the boat should be upset?

Then you'll be drowned, Drowned, drowned, Then you'll be drowned, And a good job too.

-Enborne, Berks. (Miss M. Kimber).

XI. Please, mother, buy me a milk-can, A milk-can, a milk-can, Please, mother, do.

Where's the money coming from, Coming from, coming from, What shall I do?

Sell father's feather bed, Feather bed, feather bed, Please mother, do.

Where shall the father sleep?

Sleep in the servants' bed.

Where shall the servants sleep?

Sleep in the pig-sty.

Where shall the pig sleep?

Sleep in the was.h.i.+ng-tub.

What shall I wash in?

Wash in a thimble.

The s.h.i.+rts won't go in.

Wash by the river side.

Supposing if I fall in?

Good job too!

-Hartley Wintney, Winchfield, Hants (H. S. May).

XII. Mother, buy the milk-pail, mother, dear mother of mine.

Where's the money to come from, children, dear children of mine?

Sell father's feather bed, mother, dear mother of mine.

Where's your father to sleep in?

Father can sleep in the servant's bed.

Where's the servant to sleep in?

Servant can sleep in the pig-sty.

Where's the pig to sleep in?

The pig can sleep in the wash-tub.

Where shall we wash our clothes?

Wash our clothes at the sea-side.

If our clothes should swim away?

Then take a boat and go after them.

O what should we do if the boat should sink?

O then we should all of us be at an end.

-Swaffham, Norfolk (Miss Matthews).

XIII. We want to buy a wash-pan, wash-pan, wash-pan, We want to buy a wash-pan, early in the morning.

Where will you get the money from, money from, money from?

We'll sell my father's feather bed, feather bed, feather bed.

Where will your father sleep?

Father'll sleep in the boys' bed.

Where will the boys sleep?

Boys will sleep in the girls' bed.

Where will the girls sleep?