On Fri, 29 Sep 2000 14:07:17 +0100, Geraldine wrote:
>I sent a letter to my love
>and on the way I dropped it
>Someone must have picked it up
>And put it in their pocket.
- Can't help much with "A tisket a tasket", but the Opies "Children's
Games" includes this verse as part of a song connected with the game
of "Drop Handkerchief". The other two verses are:
Now is the time to close your eyes,
Close your eyes, close your eyes;
Now is the time to close your eyes
And see [sic] if you've got the letter.
Now is the time to look behind,
Look behind, look behind;
Now is the time to look behind
And see if you've got the letter.
"Other songs, sung to various tunes, among them A tisket, a tasket and
Yankee Doodle are traditional in other places".
In the game, everyone stands in a circle facing inwards, and the one
who's "out" walks/runs round the outside singing the song (sometimes
everyone sings). "Out" quietly places a handkerchief on the ground
behind a player and races on: the player must pick it up, race round
the circle in the opposite direction, trying to get back in place
before the hankie-dropper reaches it, etc etc, according to the Opies.
You get the picture. "Sometimes there is jostling and pushing". You
betcha.
"A minor history department could be based on the study of this old
and much loved game", they say. It appeared in "A Little Pretty
Pocket-Book", 1744.
Geraldine is wrong, I think, to associate this with the Casket Letters
- I'm pretty sure it originated as a ritualisation of the standard
procedure for leaking cabinet documents.
RC
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