Nursery Rhyme. CCCXXXII. Games.
by Anonymous[A stands with a row of girls (her daughters) behind her; B, a suitor, advances.]
B. Trip trap over the grass: If you please will you let one of
your [eldest] daughters come,
Come and dance with me?
I will give you pots and pans, I will give you brass,
I will give you anything for a pretty lass.
A. says, "No."
B. I will give you gold and silver, I will give you pearl,
I will give you anything for a pretty girl.
A. Take one, take one, the fairest you may see.
B. The fairest one that I can see
Is pretty Nancy, - come to me.
[B carries one off, and says:]
You shall have a duck, my dear,
And you shall have a drake,
And you shall have a young man
apprentice for your sake.
[Children say:]
If this young man should happen to die,
And leave this poor woman a widow,
The bells shall all ring, and the birds shall all sing,
And we'll all clap hands together.
[So it is repeated until the whole are taken.]