Black Thorn Lyrics
Two rows of children face each other, trade a call and a dare, and then everybody runs. Anyone caught joins the catchers.
Black Thorn
Blackthorn!
Butter-milk and barley-corn;
How many geese have you to-day?
As many as you can catch and carry away.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/black-thorn/
- Type
- Action Songs
- Tune
- Chanted call and answer
- Best for ages
- 5 to 10 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| How many geese have you to-day? | The catcher shouts the question across the field. |
| As many as you can catch and carry away | The row shouts the dare back, then dashes to the far side. |
What Does Black Thorn Mean?
Blackthorn is a spiky hedge bush with white flowers in early spring and small, sour, blue-black berries called sloes in autumn. Here it is the name of the game, and the catcher is Blackthorn. Butter-milk is the thin liquid left after cream is churned into butter, and barley-corn is a grain, so the first lines sound like a farmer reciting what is on the farm. The question about geese is a market-day question, and the answer is a challenge: take as many as you can catch.
History and Origin
Alice Bertha Gomme prints four versions of the call in The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1894). This one came from Monton in Lancashire, and two of the others ask about sheep instead of geese. In the Lancashire game, one child stands facing a row of children. When the call is finished the row runs across, and the one child tries to catch them. Players who are caught join the catcher, and the last one caught becomes Blackthorn for the next round.
Learning Activities
- Play it: mark two lines about twenty steps apart on the grass. One catcher stands in the middle, the others line up on one side, and everyone runs after the last line.
- Safety first: play on soft grass, tag with a light touch on the shoulder, and never grab clothes or pull anyone down. Real blackthorn has sharp thorns, so keep well away from hedges while running.
- New animals: change the geese to sheep, ducks or goats, as the old players did.