A Ckildt-ens Game and the Lyke Wake. 121
A Children's Game and the Lyke Wake.
[Folk-Lore, vol. xxxii. p. 274 ff.) Professor Granger's article on A Children's Game and the Lyke Wake, brought to my mind a version of the poem quoted, which was told to me as a child by one of our servants. It did not, with her, form part of a game, but was accompanied by a certain amount of gesture play. The poem is very short and incomplete and I can remember no reference to the worms and their unpleasant functions, while it will be seen that the church and the parson both occupy very subordinate positions. I can only quote from memory, and have not heard the rhyme for years, so it is possible that there may be omissions, though I do not think so. They run as follows :
" There was an old man all skin and bone — He always went to Church alone.
He looked up, he looked round, He saw a dead man on the ground.
He said to the parson, passing by,
' Shall I be like that man when I die } ' —
' Yes ! ' "
This is, of course, a very poor version ; but it is entirely possible that the worms have their place in it, though I have forgotten them. The woman used to recite it in a hollow voice, her hands folded palm to palm with the thumbs upwards and the fingers pointing at me. During the recitation she rubbed her hands slowly together, keeping a perfectly grave face and a mysterious manner ; but on reaching the final ' Yes ! ' her voice rose to a shout, and one hand shot out suddenly, hitting me in the face. I am not sure what part of the country this woman came from ; but I think that she was a Londoner,
Mary A. Berkeley.
Cranborne, near Salisbury.
