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271
The Folk-lore of Plants
·
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
198
CHAPTER
XVIII.
CHILDREN'S
RHYMES
AND
GAMES.
Children
are
more
or
less
observers
of
nature,
and
frequently
far
more
so
than
their
elders.
This,
perhaps,
is
in
a
great
measure
to
be
accounted
for
from
the
fact
that
childhood
is
naturally
inquisitive,
and
fond
of
having
explained
whatever
seems
in
any
way
mysterious.
Such
especially
is
the
case
in
the
works
of
nature,
and
in
a
country
ramble
with
children
their
little
voices
are
generally
busy
inquiring
why
this
bird
does
this,
or
that
plant
grows
in
such
a
way--a
variety
of
questions,
indeed,
which
unmistakably
prove
that
the
young
mind
instinctively
seeks
after
knowledge.
Hence,
we
find
that
the
works
of
nature
enter
largely
into
children's
pastimes;
a
few
specimens
of
their
rhymes
and
games
associated
with
plants
we
quote
below.
In
Lincolnshire,
the
butter-bur
(Petasites
vulgaris)
is
nicknamed
bog-horns,
because
the
children
use
the
hollow
stalks
as
horns
or
trumpets,
and
the
young
leaves
and
shoots
of
the
common
hawthorn
(Cratoegus
oxyacantha),
from
being
commonly
eaten
by
children
in
spring,
are
known
as
"bread
and
cheese;"
while
the
ladies-smock
(Cardamine
pratensis)
is
termed
"bread
and
milk,"
from
the
custom,
it
has
been
suggested,
of
country
people
having
bread
and
milk
for
breakfast
about
the
season
when
the
flower
first
comes
in.
In
the
North
of
England
this
plant
is
known
as
cuckoo-spit,
because
almost
every
flower
stem
has
deposited
upon
it
a
frothy
patch
not
unlike
human
saliva,
in
which
is
enveloped
a
pale
green
insect.
Few
north-country
children
will
gather
these
flowers,
believing
that
it
is
unlucky
to
do
so,
adding
that
the
cuckoo
has
spit
upon
it
when
flying
over.
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