Wexford Wanderings

by Hugh E. Conway

School Games II

The school children in the Wexford area also enjoyed a number of circle games involving forming a circle to play the game. One of the favorites was Farmer in the dell which started with children joining hands and dancing around the farmer, who stands in the center of the circle as they sing. Each verse is sung twice.
 
The farmer in the dell
The farmer in the dell
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The farmer in the dell

The farmer takes a wife
The farmer takes a wife
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The farmer takes a wife
At the end of the this verse, the farmer chooses his wife, who joins him inside the circle as the circle dance continues.

The wife takes a child
The wife takes a child
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The wife takes a child
At the end of this verse, the wife takes a child, who joins the husband and wife inside the circle as the dance continues.

The child takes a nurse
The child takes a nurse
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The child takes a nurse
At the end of this verse, the child takes a nurse (nanny), who joins the husband, wife, and child inside the circle as the dance continues.

The nurse takes a cow
The nurse takes a cow
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The nurse takes a cow
At the end of this verse, the nurse takes a cow, who joins the husband, wife, child, and nurse inside the circle as the dance continues.
 
The cow takes a dog
The cow takes a dog
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The cow takes a dog
At the end of this verse, the cow takes a dog, who joins the husband, wife, child, nurse, and cow inside the circle as the dance continues.

The dog takes a cat
The dog takes a cat
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The dog takes a cat
At the end of this verse, the dog takes a cat, who joins the husband, wife, child, nurse, cow, and dog inside the circle as the dance continues.

The cat takes a rat
The cat takes a rat
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The cat takes a rat
At the end of this verse, the cat takes a rat, who joins the husband, wife, child, nurse, cow, dog, and cat inside the circle as the dance continues.

The rat takes the cheese
The rat takes the cheese
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The rat takes the cheese

The cheese stands alone
The cheese stands alone
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The cheese stand alone

Whoever ends up being the cheese becomes the farmer for the next round. If you have more than 10 children, you will have more than one Cheese at the end. The teacher randomly picks one of the children still dancing in the circle to be the Farmer in the next round.

This Farmer in the dell game indicates the normal progression during early settler days. The men would come to the new land and build a homestead before getting a wife. The wife would have a child and want a nurse/nanny to help care for the child. The animals are then selected in order with a cow representing food (milk/ meat), the dog for hunting and safety, the cat to protect the crops, and the rat is the antagonist stealing grain and trying to eat the cheese.

Another circle game was” Ring Around the Rosy” where the children would hold hands and dance around in a circle singing the verses and doing what the verses said.

Ring-a-round the rosy,
A pocket full of posies,
Ashes! Ashes!
We all fall down

Cows in the meadows
Eating buttercups
Thunder (hit the ground) lightning
We all stand up.

The origins of the first verse for Ring Around the Rosy is from English history during the Great Plague (bubonic plague) of London. Plague symptoms included a rosy red rash in the form of a ring on a person’s skin (Ring around the rosy). The people of the day would carry pockets or pouches filled with sweet smelling herbs often posies to ward off the bad smells (belief the disease was transmitted by bad smells). Because of the large quantity of dead bodies, cremation to ashes was the remedy (Ashes ashes). Over 60% of the population of London died from the plague (We all fall down).

The second verse was added on later to get the children back on their feet and start the song over again.