This is the way I remember it: Everyone holds two fists out in front of them. "It" pounds each fist around the circle while all say the chant. The fist that hits on the rhyming word is out and goes behind the player. Last player left is the next "It". One potato, two potato, three potato, FOUR Five potato, six potato, seven potato, MORE. Round and round you go until all hands are out. This game could also be played with the following rhymes: 1) Eeny meeny miney mo 2) Baa Baa Black Sheep 3) Hickory, Dickory, Dock 4) Pease Porridge Hot Other Choosing Games are: Wire, briar, limber, lock: When choosing up sides for games or picking who's going to be "It" for the next round of a game, many times children gathered in a circle to perform a choosing procedure. This constituted, in effect, another game. One member of the circle recited a chant, pointing at each person in the circle in turn, including him or herself in the proper turn. The person chosen was the one at whom the chooser was pointing on the last word of the chant. Sometimes the last word was spelled out, with the chooser pointing at a different person for each letter of the last word, in order to prolong the choosing. Wire, briar, limber, lock, Three geese in a flock. One flew east, One flew west, One flew over the cuckoo's nest. Inky, inky, spill your spew, Nobody stinks but Y-O-U. One ending to a choosing game could be: My mother told me to pick this very one. And if you wanted to make the choosing take even longer, add: You old dirty dish rag, you. Blacksmith - a tag game: Everybody played. One person was it and as you were caught they were it with you until everybody was caught. In regular Hide and Seek, the person that was It caught everybody. Then the next round, the first person caught was it. The kids in the whole community played, 20-25 people playing. We counted 1-100 by ones. After counting, and before looking up, the person who was It yelled: Bushel of wheat, bushel of rye, Who ain't hid holler "I". If anybody hollered "I", the counting started again, so the ones that weren't hid could hide. Then they they yelled: Bushel of wheat, bushel of clover, Who ain't hid can't hide over. Then, that's when you went around looking for where the other kids had hidden. Red Rover The game of Red Rover was played with quite a few children, and could last a long time. First, two team captains were selected, then they picked their teams according to who had the sturdiest grip. The two teams lined up facing one another, about twenty feet apart. They stood far enough apart from their team members so that, extending each arm straight out, they clasped hands, forming a stretched out rank. Quietly, so the other team couldn't hear, the starting group decided which member of the opposite team they wanted to be on their team. If they picked a child named Drewry, for instance, then they chanted: Red Rover, Red Rover, send Drewry on over. Usually there was some moaning and groaning from the other side, because the kids with the best grips were always picked to go first. But hopefully for them, the kid with the best grip was also the best runner, or at least big enough to scare a couple from the other team into losing their handholds. The team sending Drewry over pulled back on either side of him, giving encouragement and some advice on where the weak spots might be in the opposite ranks. Drewry took a run-and-go straight between the two children on the opposite team that he judge to have the weakest grips, or the most fear, and just barreled straight at their clasped hands. Now, a lot of times, if Drewry was a big kid or fast, the other kids knew it was going to hurt a lot when he ran into their hands and they just let go and let him pass. Or if they held fast, but he succeeded in breaking their grip on each other, he would get through their line. In either case, Drewry got to pick someone from the other team to return with him to his side, adding to the winning team's ranks and diminishing the loser's. If the line held and Drewry couldn't break through, he had to join their team. The teams took turns requesting a runner to come over. At times, they asked for someone they knew didn't have the strength to break through, just to increase their ranks without increasing their strength. When there was only one person left on a team, that person could choose to run at the other team and have a chance to rebuild his or her ranks, or to surrender. Some kids developed fancy handclasps that they judged to be practically unbreakable. You could clasp each other's wrists, but not above the wrist. And if you ran at the other team and, at the last minute, clasped your own hands together in front of you right at a level where their hands met, you could usually break through - or scare them into letting go and letting you through. Antney Over: This game needs at least two players, one stationed on either side of the house, with the house's roof line running across between you. Even numbers of player are best, but not necessary. A greater number of smaller or less skilled players can play against a fewer number of good players and still have a good game. The game is played with old socks that are beyond mending. They're rolled up into a ball and sewn to hold a round shape - or a SOFT rubber ball. The teams split up and station themselves on either side of the house. The serving team has the sock and chooses the first person to serve; afterwards each person gets a turn to serve as the game progresses. The server judges height, distance and angle, then yells, "Antney over!" as he releases the ball. This lets the other team know the sock is coming, but because of the roofline, they can't see it until it's already on the way down. If the opposite team catches the ball, they get a point and the next serve; if they don't, the server's team gets the point and the serve. This continues to an agreed upon point limit, or as long as the players hold up. Tiskit-a-tasket: A game young children liked was Tiskit-a-tasket. Someone was chosen to be in the middle and given a handkerchief or a piece of folded paper to hold. The others spread out in a circle and held hands. Then, while they sang: A tiskit-a-tasket, A green and yellow basket. I wrote a letter to my love And on the way I dropped it. I dropped it, I dropped it, And on the way I dropped it. the child in the middle exited the circle, bending underneath the clasped hands of two players and began skipping around the outside of the group. Sometime during the song, the child with the handkerchief or paper would drop it behind the feet of one of the circle and continue skipping along around the group. This was how the next "It" was chosen. Players couldn't let on when they saw who was chosen. If the song ended before the person selected realized they had been selected, then they became It. If the person selected caught on that they had been chosen, they had to grab up the handkerchief and run it back to the person who dropped it. The original person would have to be It again, in that case. London bridge: London Bridge was also a game popular with the smaller children. It was a game of elimination. Two children were chosen to be the London Bridge towers and bridge span, standing facing each other. Their outstretched arms and clasped hands were the bridge's span. All the other children marched in a circle passing under the span. Beginning with the first verse: London Bridge is falling down, Falling down, Falling down. London Bridge is falling down. My fair lady. The children playing the span held their hands as high up as they could reach together. On the word "lady" they brought their arms down on either side of whoever was passing under the span when the verse ended - creating the same sort of excitement as when the music ends in a game of musical chairs. The captured person was eliminated from the circular march, the span was lowered to about shoulder height for the next verse, and the marchers then crouched slightly to pass under the bridge: London Bridge is half fell down, Half fell down, Half fell down. London Bridge is half fell down. My fair lady. Another child was captured and, I think, they were thrown in "jail" or maybe the "tower" with the previous captured player. I seem to recall the idea that they were under arrest or in a confined area. This capture is more difficult, since the prey is bent over and can scoot out from under the "bridge's" arms. For the next verse, the span was apart, with each child playing the bridge holding their hands at their sides: London Bridge is all fell down, All fell down, All fell down. London Bridge is all fell down. My fair lady. The capture was even more difficult this time, because the bridge players had to reach up and clasp hands before bringing their arms down around the victim, and often the prey escaped. Then the span was back at shoulder height for the next verse: London Bridge is half built up, Half built up, Half built up. London bridge is half build up. My fair lady. And all the way up for the last one: London Bridge is all built up, All built up, All built up. London Bridge is all built up. My fair lady. The verses were repeated until all the children were captured, and the last two captured played the bridge for the next round. One variation had each person that was captured immediately becoming a part of the bridge and carrying on the song, letting the previous bridge member join the march. This gave the game a faster pace, since the bridge was changed completely after each two captures and the majority of players didn't have to stand together in confinement for much of the length of the song. Thanks Robert Parker robert_parker@msn.com Solving a mystery, even if another is opened, is still progress... -----Original Message----- From: William E. Carroll [mailto:wcarroll2@houston.rr.com] Sent: Thursday, August 22, 2002 11:58 AM To: TXSHELBY-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Fw: A tough nut Date: Thursday, August 22, 2002 12:54 PM Subject: A tough nut Everyone seems to be having trouble with this one. The kids are in a circle, each holding a fist in front of him/her. The procedure may have been used to choose sides. The leader taps each on fist in succession as he/she chants: One potato, two potato, three potato, four. Five potato, six potato, seven potato, more. Then follows one or the other of the following, or maybe both, but if so, in what order? My mother told me to take this one, tapping each one on fist (or/&) O, U, T spells out goes you, you dirty old dishrag, you. Some say that it ends: "My mother told me to take this one, you dirty old dishrag you" & that "O,U, T spells out-goes-you" belongs to something else. Bill Carroll