Part 10

The boys spent a long time playing this game--indeed they seemed to forget they were playing for us, and we were finally compelled to call them off.

Chi had turned the marbles over to the others as soon as he had fairly started it, and stood in that peculiar fashion of his with one leg wound around the other, and when we called to them, he simply said as though it were the next part of the same game:

"Kick the shoes."

The boys all took off their shoes--an easy matter for an Oriental--and piled them in a heap. At a given sign they all kicked the pile scattering the shoes in every direction, and each snatched up, and, for the time, kept what he got. Those who were very agile got their own shoes, or a pair which would fit them, while those who were slow only secured a single shoe, and that either too large or too small. It was amusing to see a large-footed boy with a small shoe, and a boy with small feet having a shoe or shoes much too large for him.

The game was a good test of the boys' agility.

On consulting our watch we found it would soon be time for the boys to enter school, but asked them to play one more game.

"Cat catching mice," said Chi.

The children selected one of their company to represent the cat and another the mouse.

The remainder formed a ring with the mouse inside and the cat outside, and while the ring revolved, the following conversation took place:

"What o'clock is it?" "Just struck nine."

"Is the mouse at home?" "He's about to dine."

All the time the mouse was careful to keep as far as possible from the cat.

The ring stopped revolving and the cat popped in at this side and the mouse out at the other. It is one of the rules of the game that the cat must follow exactly in the footsteps of the mouse. They wound in and out of the ring for some time but at last the mouse was caught and "eaten," the eating process being the amusing part of the game. It is impossible to describe it as every "cat" does it differently, and one of the virtues of a cat is to be a good eater.

The boys continued to play until the bell rang for the evening session. They referred to many different games which they had received from Europeans, but played only those which Chi had learned upon the street before he entered school. This was repeated day after day, until we had gathered a large collection of their most common, and consequently their best, games, the number of which was an indication of the richness of the play life of Chinese boys.

Another peculiarly interesting fact was the leadership of Chi. The Chinese boy, like the Chinese man is a genuine democrat and is ready to follow the one who knows what he is about and is competent to take the lead, with little regard to social position. It is the civil service idea of a genuine democracy ingrained in childhood.

GAMES PLAYED BY GIRLS

After having made the collection of boys' games we undertook to obtain in a similar way, fullest information concerning games played by the girls. Of course, it was impossible to do it alone, for the appearance of a man among a crowd of little girls in China is similar to that of a hawk among a flock of small chicks--it results in a tittering and scattering in every direction, or a gathering together in a dock under the shelter of the school roof or the wings of the teacher. One of the teachers, however, Miss Effie Young, kindly consented to go with us, and a goodly number of the small girls, after a less than usual amount of tittering and whispering, gathered about us to see what was wanted. The smallest among them was the most brave, and Miss Young explained that this was a "little street waif" who had been taken into the school because she had neither home nor friends, with the hope that something might be done to save her from an unhappy fate.

"Do you know any games?" we asked her.

She put her hands behind her, hung her head, shuffled in an embarrassed manner, and answered: "Lots of them."

"Play some for me."

This small girl after some delay took control of the party and began arranging them for a game, which she called "going to town," similar to one which the boys called "pounding rice." Two of the girls stood back to back, hooked their arms, and as one bent the other from the ground, and thus alternating, they sang:

Up you go, down you see, Here's a turnip for you and me; Here's a pitcher, we'll go to town; Oh, what a pity, we've fallen down.

At which point they both sat down back to back, their arms still locked, and asked and answered the following questions:

What do you see in the heavens bright? I see the moon and the stars at night. What do you see in the earth, pray tell? I see in the earth a deep, deep well. What do you see in the well, my dear? I see a frog and his voice I hear. What is he saying there on the rock? Get up, get up, ke'rh kua, ke'rh kua.

They then tried to get up, but, with their arms locked, they found it impossible to do so, and rolled over and got up with great hilarity.

This seemed to suggest to our little friend another game, which she called "turning the mill." The girls took hold of each other's hands, just as the boys do in "churning butter," but instead of turning around under their arms they turn half way, put one arm up over their head, bringing their right or left sides together, one facing one direction and one the other; then, standing still, the following dialogue took place:

Where has the big dog gone? Gone to the city. Where has the little dog gone? Run away.

Then, as they began to turn, they repeated: