How Many Miles To Babylon?

Source: Games For The Playground, Home, School And Gymnasium
Category: MISCELLANEOUS ACTIVE GAMES



_10 to 100 players._

_Indoors; out of doors._

The players are divided into two lines and stand facing each other,
with a distance of about ten feet between. Each line numbers off in
twos, and the players in each line take hold of hands. The following
dialogue takes place between the two lines, all of the players in a
line asking or answering the questions in unison. The lines rock
forward and backward during the dialogue from one foot to another,
also swinging the clasped hands forward and backward in time to the
rhythm of the movement and the words. The time should be rapid.


The first line asks


"How many miles to Babylon?"

Second line


"Threescore and ten."
"Will we be there by candle light?"
"Yes, and back again."
"Open your gates and let us through."
"Not without a beck [courtesy] and a boo [bow]."
"Here's a beck and here's a boo,
Here's a side and here's a sou;
Open your gates and let us through."

As the players in the first line say, "Here's a beck and here's a
boo," they suit the action to the words, drop hands, and make each a
courtesy, with wrists at hips for the "beck," and straighten up and
make a deep bow forward for the "boo"; assume an erect position and
bend the head sideways to the right for "Here's a side," and to the
left for "Here's a sou." Then the partners clasp hands and all run
forward in eight quick steps in the same rhythm as the dialogue that
has been repeated, each couple passing under the upraised hands of the
opposite couple, which represent the city gates. Having taken the
eight steps, the running couple turns around, facing the other line
from the opposite side. This is done in four running steps, making
twelve steps in all. The couples that made the gates then turn around
in four running steps (a total of sixteen steps or beats) until they
face the first line, when they in turn begin the rocking motion and
the dialogue, "How many miles to Babylon?" This is repeated
indefinitely, each line being alternately the questioners and the
gates.

The time in which the lines are repeated and the accompanying
movements should be very brisk and rapid, so as to give life
and action to it. The start forward in the run when the couples
pass through the gates should be made with a decided stamp or
accent on the first step; and the last step with which they
turn in place, facing the line after they have passed through
the gates, should have a similar accent. The questions and
answers should be given with varied intonation to avoid
monotonous singsong.

Mrs. Gomme ascribes the origin of this game to a time when toll
was required for entrance into a city, or for the carrying of
merchandise into a walled town. The form here given is of
Scottish origin, gathered by the writer, and is different from
any published versions that have been consulted.


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