Some Party-Games of the Great Smoky Mountains- Joseph S. Hall
The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 54, No. 211/212 (Jan. - Jun., 1941), pp. 68-71
SOME PARTY-GAMES OF THE GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS*
BY JOSEPH S. HALL
[*In the summer of 1937, under the sponsorship of the National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior, the writer made an investigation of the native speech of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park area in Tennessee and North Carolina. In the course of the recording activities some material of non-linguistic nature was incidentally gathered, and a portion of this is herewith presented. The extensive linguistic findings are not yet ready for publication.]
An evening devoted to party-games was called a "play" on Cosby Creek, Cocke County, Tennessee. It was the good fortune of the writer to attend the party which furnished the material for this report. The games played upon that occasion were known by the names: "Disease and Cure," "Cross Questions and Crooked Answers," "My Bird's a Pretty Bird, What Kind's Yourn?," and "I've Got a Date." There were also two or three others, the names of which were not heard. One corresponded to a game familiar to many as "Hide the Thimble"; another corresponded to a procedure well-known in club initiations, the identity of which specialists in the party-game will no doubt recognize from the description given below. No games were played in which singing or dance-forms were featured. The group of participants ranged in ages from nine to about forty-five, the majority, however, being adolescents. There were about a dozen altogether, and a few spectators, the latter consisting of a middle-aged man, his eldest son, and two small children, all of whom looked on from the beds in which the children would have been sleeping except for the commotion. It was evident that these four derived considerable amusement from the varied activities and from the embarrassing situations into which the players were frequently put for purposes of general fun.
Of the three mountain families represented, two were rather low in the economic scale. The house in which the games were played was a somewhat makeshift affair of the poorer type, but possessing ample space; there were three good-sized rooms (for a family of eight). Furniture, what there was of it, was of the rudest sort. Two wide beds with straw ticks in what might be called the living room still left adequate space for the conduct of the games. When the participants were not lined up in two rows facing each other as required for three of the games, they sat on the few homemade chairs and the edges of the beds. The presence of beds in the living room is of course nothing unusual in mountain homes; houses of the older and more primitive type had only one room for all purposes. The youngest children, who slept there, were no doubt frequently disturbed by "plays" and other family entertainments.
The fun began when the two oldest women of the group requested the leadership of the first "play" and asked all the other participanttso go into the unlighted kitchen, there to remain until called separately. The darkness of the room to some extent contributedt o the atmosphere of anticipation. After a short lapse of time the author was called in and blindfolded. Then he was turned around rapidly several times, made to sit in a chair, and asked to open his mouth. A spoon containing some liquid was thrust in and emptied, the administrantms eanwhilem entioningt he word "pizen." The taste was of something unpalatable but harmless. Later it was learnedt hat the potion was "turkentime," as one fifteen year old boy pronounced it. The blindfold was then removed, and the writer was allowed to witness the treatment administered to others, some of whom were given similar potions or made to take things clammy or unpleasant to the touch into their hands, a fanciful name in each case being applied to the thing tasted or grasped. The girls, as might be expected, screamed when their treatment was effective, but the boys were inclined to take theirs with mild disdain. After every one had his or her turn, the game was abandoned fo r something different.
In "Disease and Cure" two lines, one of boys and the other of girls, were formed facing each other, partners
of approximately the same age being placed opposite as far as possible. The diseases and the cures were all assigned in advance. A boy, a self-elected leader, went down the boys' line, whispering t o each a disease and a cure. The cure was applicable not to his own but to his partner'sa ilment. Meanwhile, an assistant,a girl, went down the girls' line doing the same thing. Then all was in readiness to begin. Each girl asked her partner in the opposite line to name his disease and, upon being told, stated the cure previously indicated. Then the roles of "doctor" and "patient" were reversed, it now being the boys' turn to "cure" the girls. The fun, of course, consisted in the mention of humorous afflictions and treatments, in the complete lack of connection between the two, and in the ridiculous situations which would thus occur. [3]"
Cross Questions and Crooked Answers" was similar. Each player was provided in advancew ith a questiona nd with an answert o his partner'sq uestion. Each question and answer were repeated three times, the idea being not to laugh at the humorous and sometimes embarrassingi ncongruities which would develop. [4]
In another game, the name of which was not heard, the group sits in a circle and someone is chosen "it." While he stands in the center, a thimble or spool or other small object is then passed from person to person until someone decides to keep it. If he does so he must pretend to pass it on to the next person, who in turn goes through the same motion, and so on around the circle to the player who first started it moving. The task of the player who is "it" is to guess by the passing movements and the expressions on people's faces who has the object. He has three chances. If he guesses correctly, he may take the seat of the person who held the object and direct him to do something embarrassing, such as to take off the shoes of some girl and then put them back on, or in the case of a girl, to receive a kiss from the homeliest man in the group, and the like. After this he or she becomes "it." If, however, the person who is "it" guesses incorrectly in all of the three tries, he remains in the center, the object is put in motion again, and the whole procedure continues as before. [5]
In "My Bird's a Pretty Bird, What Kind's Yourn?," the action commences when everyone is asked to think of some particular bird and to keep the name secret. The group may sit around the room in a rough circle. The person who is "it" stands in the center and repeats the formula, "My Bird's a pretty bird, what kind's yourn?" to each in turn, in answer to which the player addressed names the bird which he or she thought of. If the interrogated person mentions the bird which the interrogator had in mind, the latter throws a wet rag in the former's face, the two exchange places, and the former becomes "it." If, however, a different bird is
mentioned, the person in the center repeats the formula until the bird of which he has been thinking is mentioned. Among the birds named in this game were the blackbird, redbird, cat-bird, whippoorwill, and bob-white.
The honesty of the interrogator seemingly goes unquestioned, though at times one may suspect that he takes advantage of his situation. [6] "I've Got a Date" was directed by an eighteen year old boy who went
about the room whispering to each participant the name of a person of the opposite sex with whom he or she was to have a date, where the rendezvous was to be, and what the two concerned were to do. Thereupon the game formally began, and conversation like the following was in order:
Boy: I've got a date.
The group: Who with?
Boy: Della Philips.
The group: When?
Boy: Tonight.
The group: Where?
Boy: Settin' on the fence.
The group: What doin'?
Boy: Holdin' hands.
The fun consists in the element of surprise, for the group is eager to know who of the opposite sex will be mentioned in each case, and in the embarrassment of the couple when strange times and places for the
rendezvous are mentioned and humorous activities designated. There seems to be a variant of this game in which the couple are actually supposed to do the things indicated. That is, if a boy is told that he has a
date with so-and-so on the porch and that he is to kiss her, they must act as directed. This is said to lead to certain abuses, however. [7]
FOOTNOTES:
[2] "Play" in this use obviously had the meaning "game."
[3] Similar games, "Predicaments and Remedies" and "Ailments and Remedies," are described in Charles F. Smith, Games and Game Leadership, New York, 1932, pp. 472-3. Cf. also "Present and Advise" in W. W. Newell, Games and Songs of American Children, 2 New York, I903, p. 139.
[4] Vance Randolph and Nancy Clemens find the same game in the Ozark Mountains; see their "Ozark Mountain Party-Games," Journal of American Folklore, 49 (1936), 199-206.201. Alice Bertha Gomme, The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland, London, I894-8, I, 82 f., describes a similar game of the same name played in England. Nares, Glossary, quotes a brief passage from Nathaniel Lee, The Princess of Cleve (produced about 1681; published 1689), Act IV, Scene I, in which there is an apparent reference to this game. (Mrs. Gomme, misreading Nares, erroneously cites Wilson, The Inconstant Lady.)
[5] This game is similar to "Button, Button" and "Ring on a String," described in the standard manuals of games; see Jessie H. Bancroft, Games for the Playground, Home, School, and Gymnasium, New York, I937, pp. 243 f., 283 f. It bears, however, a striking resemblance to "The Wandering Dollar," reported by Newell, pp. 151-2. Mrs. Gomme describes analogous games of the British Isles: "Diamond Ring," I, 96 f.; "Find the Ring," I, 12I f.; "Thimble Ring," II, 225-7.
[6] Cf. the Ozark party-game, "Purty Bird in My Gourd," in Vance Randolph and Nancy Clemens, loc. cit.
[7] During a brief visit to the Smokies made by the writer in November 1938, his friend, Mr. Glen Shults, a native of Birds Creek, Sevier County, Tennessee, described several partygames popular in that section: "Sellin' Out Beef," "Post Office," "My Bird's a Pretty Bird," "Blindfold" (the local name for "Blindman's Buff"), "Cross Questions and Crooked Answers," and "Disease and Remedies." In "Sellin' Out Beef" the leader asks each of the players, who sit about the room in a circle, which part of the animal he wishes to buy. One, for example, chooses the head, another the feet, another the tail, and so on. Then the first buyer says, "My head has a pain in it"; and the second continues, "My feet have a pain in 'em"; and the third, "My tail has a pain in it," etc. The amusement apparently arises from the identification of the parts of the animal with the members of the human body. In "My Bird's a Pretty Bird," as locally played, the leader may carry either a wet rag or a cup of water behind him, in readiness to throw upon the participant whose bird corresponds with his own. The other games have been described above or are familiar through common practice. Mention may be made of an unpublished Master of Arts thesis, A Study of the Play Activities of Three Sections of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, University of Michigan, School of Education, 1938, by Eveline Elizabeth Kappes. The three sections studied were Cades Cove, Wears Valley, and Gatlinburg, Tennessee.