PUPPY TAIL RHYMES
(excerpts from posts)
(If you want to retell any of the stories listed below, be sure to obtain permission from the copyright holder if the material is not in the public domain)

1) [Laurie Bauer, New Zealand] Your rhyme is certainly familiar, though my version was something more like:
England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales,
Riding on billy-goats eating puppy-dogs' tails.

2) [Gwenda Davey, Australia] A rhyme often used by girls in Australia when playing Elastics is:
England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales,
Inside, outside, monkeys tails.

3) [Mavis Curtis, Northern England?] The rhyme I've collected for elastics is:
England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales.
Inside, outside, on the rails.

This makes sense because the movements for the second line are: Feet on the inside of the loop, feet on the outside of the loop and finally feet actually on the loop. The first line is listed as one of the names for what in my area is called "Black Pudding" but is often called "Peep behind the curtain" or "Grandmother's footsteps". The reference is in the Opies' Children's Games in Street and Playground p.194 and 233. I wondered if the first line came from a game played at Brownies or Guides, where there were four corners of a room each one called one of the four countries. There was somebody who called out the name of the country and you had to run to the right corner. Anybody making a mistake would be out.
4) [Liz Grugeon, Bedfordshire, England] I have met versions of this in Beds. schools used with elastics

5) [Judy McKinty, Australia] It appears as a rhyme in relation to Elastic Skipping in Children's Games with Things (I. & P. Opie, OUP 1997). The rhyme they quote is England, Ireland, Scotland Wales, / Inside,outside,donkeys' tails (Birmingham, 1977, and other places)

6) [Thor Gunnar Noras, Norsk Dokumentasjonssenter for Barnekultur i Stavanger] The origin of this rhyme must be older than 1960s, when skipping elastics started. It's probably a counting out rhyme or ball bouncing rhyme. The listing of geographical names are common in several languages. It's not probably a connection to actual political items.




(This web page updated 8/10/03)