Gypsy skipping song – My mother said, I never should .. Play with the Gypsies .. ƸӜƷ

“My mother said,
I never should ..
Play with the Gypsies
In the wood; ƸӜƷ
If I did, she would say,
Naughty little girl to disobey.
Your hair shan't curl,
Your shoes shan't shine,
You gypsy girl,
You shan't be mine.
And my father said
If I did,
He'd rap my head
With the teapot lid.
The wood was dark,
The grass was green, ƸӜƷ
In came Sally
With a tambourine. ೋ
I went to sea -
No ship to get across,
So I paid ten shillings       (shillings pronounced shillins)
For a blind white horse,  (horse pronounced hoss)
I up on his back,
And was off in a crack -
Sally, tell my mother
I never shall come back.”
                                       Anon

 

 

When I was a little girl my favourite pastime was skipping. Sometimes it would be with a skipping rope and sometimes it would be without. My mother was forever telling me to stop as I would hold her hand and skip alongside of her as we walked up the very long lane to what was known as the corner shop.

My mother would tell me mainly the first part of this particular skipping rhyme and if I stayed outside the corner shop which meant I could climb in the very old Yew tree, she would wag her finger and say very firmly - ‘now don’t you go talking to any strangers.’  Talking to strangers or going off with strangers was the very worst thing any child could do and it was every parent’s worst fear!

“Are you listening Polly?”