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As for "Bab at the Bowster"
(more generally pronounced "Babbity Bowster"), I am not sure but that
grown people have engaged in it more than wee folks have. Indeed, it is
not improbable that the young borrowed this originally from the old, by
observation. Now-a-day's, undoubtedly, we know it exclusively as a
child's play. But yet, within the memory of living men, it was the
regular custom in country places nearly over all Scotland to wind up
every dancing-ball with "Bab at the Bowster." No wedding dance, no
Handsel Monday hall, would have been esteemed complete without it; and I
have seen it performed at both, less than forty years ago. Performed by
old or young, however, the mode is the same. The girls sit down on one
side of the barn or square, the boys on the other. A boy takes a
handkerchief--it is regularly a male who starts this play—and while
dancing up and down before the girls, all sing:-
Wha learned you to dance,
Bab at the bowster, bab at the bowster;
Wha learned you to dance,
Bab at the bowster brawly?
My Minnie learned me to
dance,
Bab at the bowster, bab at the bowster;
My minnie learned me to dance,
Bab at the bowster brawly.
Wha ga'e you the keys to
keep,
Bab at the bowster, bab at the bowster;
Wha ga'e you the keys to keep,
Bab at the bowster brawly?
My minnie ga'e me the keys
to keep,
Bab at the bowster, bab at the bowster
My minnie ga'e me the keys to keep,
Bab at the bowster brawly.
Kneel down and kiss the
ground,
Kiss the ground, kiss the ground
Kneel down and kiss the ground,
Kiss the bonnie wee lassie.
By the time the last
verse has been reached the boy has fixed on his partner, and at the
command to "kneel down and kiss the ground" he spreads the handkerchief
on the floor at the girl's feet, on which both immediately kneel. A kiss
ensues, evens though it should be obtained after a struggle; then the
boy marches away round and round followed by the girl, while all again
sing the song. By the time the last verse is again reached, the girl in
turn has selected the next boy, but does not kneel down before him. She
simply throws the handkerchief in his lap, and immediately joins her own
partner by taking his arm. If, however, she can be overtaken before she
joins her partner, a penalty kiss may be enforced. Second boy selects
second girl as the first did the first girl, and pair after pair is
formed in the same fashion until all are up and marching arm-in-arm
round the room, or square, when the game is finished. At adult
assemblies, I should state, even as the company paired in this dance,
they departed for home. |
